Recipe: Swedish Pepparkakor

I am going to make a gingerbread house this week, but until then, I've got plenty of extra dough to make some traditional Swedish gingersnaps - Pepparkakor. 

The family cookbook has a recipe that calls for 9 cups of flour.  This recipe is huge.  It wouldn't fit in my Kitchenaid mixer. I could only get 8 cups of flours in with hand kneading...

I called my mother.  She said, "Oh, I never make that whole recipe!  I halve it and it makes more than enough."  Gee, thanks, mom.  I wonder why the gigantic recipe got printed in the cookbook?  (It's time for a new version, anyway... the current version of our family cookbook was put together for my wedding, before I really started cooking!  It's due... lol)

So, anyhow, I have enough gingerbread dough to make a city.  And some cookies.  This post is just about the cookies.  And the recipe I'm going to give you is for half the recipe I made (my pics are obviously the whole huge shebang...)

Swedish Pepparkakor

3/4 c whipping cream (no substitutions)
zest of 1 lemon
1 1/4 c dark brown sugar
1 Tbsp baking soda
2/3 c dark corn syrup
1/2 Tbsp ground ginger
~ 4 1/2 c flour

In a mixer, whip the cream.

Add in sugar, syrup, ginger, lemon zest, and baking soda.  Let stir in the mixer for 10 minutes.

This is after just a cup or two of flour, it got much stiffer.  And then it tried to walk out of my mixer...

Slowly add in the flour and work until smooth.  If your dough seems stiff, you may not need the whole amount of flour.  (I ended up using a little less).  Cover dough and chill, preferably overnight.

When ready to make cookies, preheat oven to 250 F.  Working with the dough in small batches, roll quite thin between two pieces of parchment paper.  Cut with desired cookie cutters and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Before baking, brush or spray lightly with water.

Bake for ~15 minutes, or until lightly browned.  Let cool on a wire rack.

Sometimes, my mother will put holes through these cookies with a straw before baking, to string ribbon through to hang on the tree.  You can decorate them with icing if desired, but I think they are lovely as is.

You can also use the same dough for a gingerbread house.  I'll be making one later in the week, so check back for that!