Pepparkakor (Swedish gingerbread cookies) are thin, crisp cookies flavored with cinnamon, ginger and cloves. These delicious traditional Swedish Christmas cookies are a must for the holiday table. And your house will smell like Christmas when they’re baking!
Want more holiday cookie recipes? You’ll love my Swedish Cinnamon Cookies (Kanelkakor), Pebernødder (Danish Peppernut Cookies), and Brysselkex (Swedish Brussels Cookies) recipes!
Other than glögg, nothing else is more synonymous with the Swedish holiday season than pepparkakor. In fact, it’s so popular that it has its own day – December 9 is Pepparkakor Dag. This special day was created by the pepparkakor producer Annas Pepparkakor in 1996.
Pepparkakor dates back to the 14th century when nuns baked and ate gingerbread to aid in digestion. At that time gingerbread also included ingredients such as pepper, cardamom, anise, cedar oil, lemon and orange peel.
It wasn’t until the 18th century that baking gingerbread in homes became more common, and not until the 19th century did gingerbread become associated with Christmas in Sweden. It wasn’t until this time that the ingredients were available to everyone Probably because ingredients like flour and sugar became more and more readily available to people.
What is Pepparkakor?
Pepparkakor, or pepper cookies, are thin, crisp, spiced Swedish ginger cookies. They’re delicious any time of year, but they’re especially popular at Christmas time and a must for any Scandinavian holiday table. Pepparkakor are cut into shapes such as hearts, trees, pigs, the Dala horse, reindeers and stars. They can be decorated with icing or eaten plain and can be hung as ornaments on the Christmas tree!
How to Make Pepparkakor Ornaments
Making pepparkakor ornaments is a fun and easy thing to do, especially with kids! Roll the dough out thicker when you’re making ornaments. Once you’ve cut the cookies, pierce a small hole at the top of your cookie using a slim straw or a bamboo skewer. If the hole closes during baking, just pierce it again right after you pull the cookies out of the oven. They’ll still be warm and pliable so it should be easy to adjust the hole. Once the cookies have cooled, slide a string or ribbon through the hole and hang it on your tree!
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Unsalted butter: There’s no salt in this recipe so use unsalted butter here.
- All-purpose flour: Provides the structure for the cookies.
- Sugar: I use half white sugar and half brown sugar.
- Dark corn syrup: Prevents sugar crystals from forming when you make caramel. Since we’re bringing the sugars to a boil, we use the corn syrup to inhibit crystal formation. Dark corn syrup also adds a caramel flavor.
- Spices: Cinnamon, ginger and cloves gives these cookies their gingerbread flavor. Sometimes I’ll add cardamom too!
How to Make Pepparkakor (Swedish Gingerbread Cookies)
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, spices, and baking soda. Set aside.
- Add butter, syrup, sugar and water to a large saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat and stir until sugar is dissolved everything is melted. I usually bring it to a boil and then remove it from the heat.
- Stir the flour mixture into the batter and work together to form a dough. The dough will be very soft and sticky, but it’ll firm up once it’s chilled.
- Transfer the dough to a large bowl and let it cool for about 10-15 minutes.
- Divide the dough in half. Shape halves into discs, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Remove one disc of dough from the refrigerator and roll it out on a lightly floured surface. The dough will be really hard and it’ll take some time to roll it out.
- Roll the dough to 1/16″ thick. These are very thin cookies, but I’ve made them a bit thicker (1/6″) and they turned out great. If you want thicker cookies, just be aware that you’ll have to adjust the cook time.
- Cut out shapes with a cookie cutter, cutting them as close to one another as possible to minimize waste and rerolling scraps as needed.
- Place cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat. These cookies don’t spread much so you don’t need to leave a lot of space between each cookie (but do leave a little!).
- Bake the cookies just until they’re slightly brown around the edges, about 5-7 minutes, or until they feel firm. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for several minutes, or until they’re set. Transfer them to a rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough.
Expert Tips
- Plan ahead – The gingerbread dough should rest in the refrigerator overnight so the spices have time to meld and develop. So plan ahead and make the dough the day before you bake.
- Don’t overbake – Because these cookies are so thin they don’t take long to cook and can burn very quickly.
- Play with the spices – I like to change the amount of spices I use depending on how spicey I want the cookies to be. You can adjust the amount of the spices in this recipe, or experiment with adding different spices like cardamom or white pepper.
- Decorate! – You can leave the cookies plain, or you can have some fun and decorate them. This is a great project to do with kids! Just whip up a batch of royal icing (my favorite recipe from Preppy Kitchen) and get creative!
What to Serve with Pepparkakor (Swedish Gingerbread Cookies)
- They’re delicious with a warm mug of glögg!
- Blue cheese may sound like an unusual food to have with gingerbread, but it’s actually delicious. The pungent salty cheese pairs beautifully with the sweet, spiciness of the gingerbread. Give it a try!
- They’re wonderful with a cup of tea or coffee.
- Use leftover pepparkakor to make my gingerbread brownies!
How to Store Pepparkakor (Swedish Gingerbread Cookies)
Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 1-2 weeks. I’ve kept some longer than 2 weeks and they’ve stayed fresh and crisp, so do a taste test before eating to evaluate their freshness.
The dough will keep in the refrigerator for 1-2 weeks. Pull some out and bake up a batch of cookies when you have company or when you need a sweet treat!
Can I Freeze Pepparkakor?
Yes, the cookies can be frozen in a freezer safe bag or container for 3-6 months.
You can freeze the dough by wrapping it in plastic wrap and putting it in a freezer safe bag for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to use the frozen dough, pull it out of the freezer the day before and let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
You can freeze unbaked cookies by laying them on a parchment lined baking sheet and freezing them until they’re solid. Then store them in a freezer safe bag or container. When you’re ready just bake them straight from the freezer although you may have to adjust your cooking time.
Other Dessert Recipes You’ll Love
- Swedish Cinnamon Cookies (Kanelkakor)
- Easy Gingerbread Brownies with Chocolate Chips
- Swedish Apple Pie
- Swedish Oatmeal Lace Cookies (Havreflarn)
Pepparkakor (Swedish Gingerbread Cookies)
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- 12 Tbsp unsalted butter (1¼ sticks)
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- 2 Tbsp dark corn syrup
- 3 Tbsp water
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, spices, and baking soda. Set aside.
- Heat butter, syrup, sugar and water in a large saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until butter melts and sugar is dissolved.
- Stir flour mixture into the batter and work together to form a dough. The dough will be very soft and sticky, but it'll firm up once it's chilled.
- Transfer the dough to a large bowl and let it cool for about 10-15 minutes.
- Divide the dough in half, shape into discs and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Remove one disc of dough from the refrigerator. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface. The dough will be really hard and it'll take some time to roll it out.
- Roll the dough to 1/16" thick. These are very thin cookies, but I've made them a bit thicker (1/6") and they turned out great. If you want thicker cookies, just be aware that you'll have to adjust the cook time.
- Cut out shapes with a cookie cutter, cutting them as close to one another as possible to minimize waste and rerolling scraps as needed.
- Place cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat. These cookies don’t spread much so you don’t need to leave a lot of space between each cookie (but do leave a little!).
- Bake cookies until slightly brown around the edges, about 5-7 minutes.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for several minutes, or until they're set. Transfer them to a rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough.
Notes
-
- Plan ahead – The gingerbread dough should rest in the refrigerator overnight so the spices have time to meld and develop. So plan ahead and make the dough the day before you bake.
-
- Don’t overbake – Because these cookies are so thin they don’t take long to cook and can burn very quickly.
-
- Play with the spices – You can adjust the amount of the spices in this recipe, or experiment with adding different spices like cardamom or white pepper.
-
- Decorate! – You can leave the cookies plain, or you can have some fun and decorate them. This is a great project to do with kids! Just whip up a batch of royal icing and get creative!
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