Swedish Gingerbread Cookies Recipes

SWEDISH GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in molasses and egg. In another bowl, whisk flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and baking soda; gradually beat into creamed mixture. Divide dough in half. Shape each into a disk; wrap in plastic. Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm enough to roll., Preheat oven to 350°. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion of dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 3-1/2-in. gingerbread man cookie cutter. Place 1 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Bake until edges are firm, 8-10 minutes. Cool on pans 2 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely., For frosting, in a bowl, beat confectioners' sugar, shortening, vanilla and enough water to reach spreading consistency. Decorate cookies with frosting and, if desired, Red Hots. , Freeze option: Transfer wrapped disks to a resealable plastic freezer bag; freeze. To use, thaw dough in refrigerator overnight or until soft enough to roll. Prepare, bake and decorate cookies as directed.

SWEDISH GINGERBREAD HOUSE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll out gingerbread dough to about 1/8 inch thick. Chill until firm, about 1 hour. Lightly dust top of dough with flour. Place templates on top and cut out shapes with a paring knife. (Use a small utility knife to cut out the windows.) Transfer shapes to parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until just beginning to brown, about 15 minutes. Let cool completely.
• Make caramel syrup, and assemble house.
• Place royal icing in a pastry bag fitted with a medium plain tip (No. 5 or 6). Pipe to outline windows, doorway, and edges of chimney, including top and base. Outline the four joining points of house, sides, and top of roof. Decorate roof: Starting at the top, pipe a horizontal line of icing in a scallop pattern, making curves in even intervals; pipe another scalloped line so the peaks join the scallops above them in the middle. Pipe icicles around edges. Dust roof with confectioners' sugar.

SWEDISH GINGER COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, combine all ingredients. Spin until dough forms.
• Chill the dough in the refrigerator for a few hours. Drop the dough in 1-tablespoon lumps on a cookie sheet, form into balls, roll in sugar, space 2 inches apart and press flat with fingers. Bake in the oven for about 10-12 minutes until dark brown. Let cool on baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to a baking rack to finish cooling.

TRADITIONAL SWEDISH PEPPARKAKOR

Steps:

• Sift the flour together with the baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and cardamom in a mixing bowl.
• Beat the butter together with the white and brown sugars in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg and corn syrup until smooth. Gradually stir in the flour mixture until evenly blended. Divide the dough into 4 equal portions and wrap tightly each with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 1 hour, or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease baking sheets.
• Using 1 portion at a time, work on a floured surface and roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick. Cut into shapes with cookie cutter, and place 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets.
• Bake in preheated oven until set, about 5 minutes. Cool completely. Store in tightly covered tins.

MOM'S PEPPARKAKOR SWEDISH GINGERBREAD COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream 1 cup shortening and granulated sugar. Beat in molasses,egg and vinegar. Stir flour with ginger, soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt; blend into batter. Chill 3 hours. On lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/8 -inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes. Place 1 inch apart on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 5 to 6 minutes. Cool slightly then remove cookies to rack and cool thoroughly.

SWEDISH GINGER COOKIES

Steps:

• In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and molasses until mixture is light and smooth. Add egg and water or milk, blending well. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, soda, salt and spices. With mixer at low speed, gradually beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture, beating just until combined. Remove, knead briefly with your hands, divide into two pieces and wrap both in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour or up to 2 days.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 4 cookie sheets with foil or parchment. Remove dough from refrigerator one package at a time, and cut in half. Let it soften slightly if it is not malleable.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough 1/8- to 1/4-inch thick. Dip cookie cutters in flour, and make shapes. Place cookies 1-inch apart on cookie sheets. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes until set. Remove sheets from oven, and let stand for 1 minute. With a thin metal pancake turner, transfer cookies to cooling racks, and let cool completely before storing or frosting.
• Store plain or frosted cookies in single layers, separated by sheets of waxed paper. Store at room temperature in metal tins or heavy-duty aluminum foil for up to a week.

SWEDISH GINGER COOKIES WITH CRYSTALLIZED GINGER

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350F (180C).
• Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar for 2 minutes or until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and molasses.
• Sift together flour, salt, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and baking soda. Stir into batter. Stir in crystallized ginger. The batter will be thick. Roll into 1-inch (2.5cm) balls. Place granulated sugar on a plate. Dip balls into sugar. Place sugar-side up on cookie sheet about 3 inches (8cm) apart, as the cookies tend to spread when baking. Keep dough refrigerated between batches.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cracked on top, slightly firm to the touch and a golden colour. They will soften and crisp up as they cool. Cool on wire racks.

PEPPARKAKOR (SWEDISH GINGER COOKIES)

Steps:

• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, baking soda, and salt.
• In a small saucepan over moderate heat, warm the corn syrup and orange zest. Add the butter and sugar and continue warming, stirring occasionally, until melted. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature. Add the egg and whisk to combine. Pour over the flour mixture and stir to combine. Form the dough into a ball, wrap in a double layer of plastic wrap, and chill overnight.
• Arrange racks in the upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat to 375°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with nonstick baking mats, such as Silpats, or parchment paper.
• Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out a portion of the dough on a lightly floured surface to a 1/4 inch thickness. Using cookie cutters, cut the dough into desired shapes, such as circles, stars, hearts, bells, gingerbread men, and Christmas trees. Transfer to the prepared baking sheets and sprinkle with the pearl sugar. Bake, switching the cookies between the upper and lower racks and rotating the baking sheets about halfway through baking, until the edges are just beginning to brown, 7 to 8 minutes. Watch the cookies carefully to make sure they don't get too brown.
• Let the cookies cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to let cool completely. Continue rolling and cutting out the rest of the cookie dough and baking the cookies on cooled baking sheets. DO AHEAD: Pepparkakor can be baked ahead and kept, stored between sheets of wax paper in an airtight container, for up to 2 weeks, or frozen up to 1 month.

SWEDISH GINGER THINS

Steps:

• Into a large bowl sift together flour, baking soda, and spices. In a medium bowl with an electric mixer beat cream until it just holds stiff peaks. In another large bowl beat butter and sugar until mixture is light and fluffy and on low speed beat in corn syrup and whipped cream, beating until cream is just combined. Add flour mixture and beat until combined well. Form dough into a disk. Chill disk, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 2 hours, and up to 2 days.
• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• Cut dough into quarters and work with 1 quarter at a time, keeping remaining dough covered and chilled. Using a rolling pin with cover dusted with flour, roll out dough into a round on a floured pastry cloth, rolling dough as thin as possible (less than 1/8 inch thick and about 14 inches in diameter) and with assorted 2- to 3-inch cutters cut out cookies. Carefully transfer cookies as cut to ungreased baking sheets with a metal spatula, arranging them about 1/2 inch apart, and top each with an almond slice. Reroll scraps and cut out more cookies in same manner.
• Bake cookies in batches in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until cookies puff and then collapse slightly, about 6 minutes. Cool cookies on sheets 1 minute and transfer with metal spatula to racks to cool completely. Make more cookies with remaining dough in same manner. Cookies keep in airtight containers at room temperature 1 week.