Photo, Jane Staples
I love to bake for the holidays. Cookies make a great hostess gift, kids gobble them up and you know, when they're just sitting around in the kitchen...you can enjoy them too!
These crisp gingerbread cookies are flavourful and just right with a cup of coffee or mulled wine (glögi). They're easy and fun to make. Chilling the dough makes it super easy to roll out. Cut them out in whimsical shapes, or traditional ones, whatever suits your fancy and have fun!
Note; the recipe calls for all-purpose flour, but I used Presidents Choice gluten-free all-purpose flour. It's a great flour for baking gf.
PIPARIT – FINNISH GINGERBREAD COOKIES
½ C BUTTER
½ C SUGAR
½ C HONEY/MOLASSES
1 EGG, BEATEN
2 CUPS ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR
2 TSP.BAKING SODA
2 TSP. ALLSPICE
2 TSP. GROUND GINGER
1 TSP. GROUND CARDAMOM
METHOD:
Cream butter and sugar. Whisk in corn syrup and egg.
In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda and spices together and fold gently into butter mixture to form a dough. Do not over-mix, otherwise cookies will not be crisp when they are baked. Roll into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or overnight if possible.
When you are ready to bake cookies, preheat oven to 350 F/180 C.
Take the dough out of fridge. Roll it out on a lightly floured surface with a rolling pin, until about 4mm. thick. Use cookie cutters and arrange shapes on baking sheets covered with parchment paper. Leave plenty of space between them as they will spread as they bake.
Bake 8-10 minutes, til nicely brown.
You can decorate these when they're cool with icing and sprinkles. Finnish style is to serve them plain. "Less is more" as they say. However you serve them, they will be appreciated and gobbled up quickly.
From: Nordic Bakery Cookbook, by Miisa Mink