Farmor doesn’t use recipes so it is mighty hard to get any kind of standard from her.  For her pepperkaker recipe she gave me a little sheet of paper with primitive-Norwegian writing (Farmor is actually Finnish) with a real simple method:

It reads:

syrup, butter sugar and milk
bring to boil with spices
the dough stands until next day
roll out thinly
cut into slices
bake light

Hm.  So I thought it best to just watch her and take pictures.  She always has to laugh and shake her head at me when I’m in the kitchen with her taking pics of her every move she makes.  She can’t believe that someone could be so interested in her normal, boring routines.  But her dance around the kitchen could never be more intriguing to me.  Without a thought she picks up, what seems to be, any old spice laying around, and puts in a finger of this and a handful of that.  It can be a little hard to keep up.  But from the pictures I took, lets see if I can work the recipe out for you.

1/2 kg syrup
250g butter
250g sugar
a large cup of milk (at least 250-300mls, I guess)
1 tsp chunky pepper
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground cloves
900g plain flour
2 tsp bicarbonate soda

preparation time – two days!  The pepperkaker needs to sit over night so make sure you make it at least the day before you want to decorate it.

method
Heat oven to 180C (350F).  In a large pot put in syrup, butter, sugar and milk.

Also add in cinnamon and cloves and heat.  Stir with whisk to mix.

Add in pepper.  Mix with whisk.

Bring to boil, stirring occasionally.  

Take off heat.  Add in flour and bicarbonate soda.  Mix with whisk.

Mix well.  Dough is perfect when it is a little stretchy.  Use the whisk to stretch it up to see.

Put on lid and leave overnight.  Farmor puts it outside in the snow but I guess you can just put it in your fridge.  The next day the dough is ready to use.  Knead into a dough – you might need a little more flour to prevent sticking.  Take a portion and roll out with plenty of flour – thin for small decorations with crunch, a little thicker for bigger decorations.

Dip cookie-cutters in flour and cut dough.

Make sure to put holes in each if you want them to hang on the tree or in the window.  Put cut-dough onto a sheeted baking tray.  Cook for about 12 minutes or until lightly brown.  For a softer cookie just cook less.  The dough will actually become lighter in the oven first before it starts to turn brown again.

Cool before decorating.  For how to decorate your pepperkaker see our post Decorating Pepperkaker.  For a conventional recipe see Pepperkaker Recipe.