Pepparkakor With Orange Glaze (Spice Cookies)

Kaarin's Note:

A Swedish spice cookie. Commonly cut into animal shapes. These are zesty and crisp.

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 60 cookies

• 8 ounces butter
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 1 egg
• 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground cloves
• ¼ cup fresh orange juice
• 2 teaspoons orange zest

Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• hot orange juice

Directions:

1. Cream the butter and sugar.
2. Stir in remaining ingredients and blend well.
3. Roll the dough to 1/8th inch thickness and cut with cookie cutters.
4. Bake at 400 degrees F for 8-10 minutes.
5. Cool on wire racks.
6. Meanwhile, stir hot orange juice into powdered sugar a few drops at a time until it is thin enough to drizzle.
7. Drizzle cooled cookies with glaze or spread with a knife.

Reviews

[cooledskin]

These tasted just like the pepparkakor my Mor-Mor used to make, but they came out a different colour and texture than I'm used to - they were more grey and less orange. They also made much less than listed - maybe three dozen, at the most. However, they tasted perfect, even though I skipped out on the glaze.

[justcallmetoni]

Kaarin, what size are your cookie cutters? I ended up with 3 dozen small cookies and another 2 dozen large ones. Needless to say it took a bit more than 30 minutes. :-) All kidding aside, these were fantastic cookies. I was a little worried about whether they would be too spicy for the kids but indeed the spices are just right very flavorful but not overwhelming. The orange is subtle and backs up the spice very nicely. The cookies themselves are crispy yet quite tender - and easy to make as the dough was quite firm and resilient. I actually preferred them without the glaze but with our without - they were superb. Thanks!!