One of my favourite traditions growing up was baking pipparkoogid, Estonian gingersnaps. These traditional Scandinavian treats are less sweet and have a slightly more complex flavor than North American gingerbread cookies.
In other Northern European countries they're called pepparkakor in Swedish and Icelandic, piparkakut in Finnish, piparkūkas in Latvian, and pepperkaker in Norwegian.
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This is my gingersnap recipe, which is my adaptation of my Ema's (my mom's) recipe. Enjoy!
Ingredients
1 cup (227g) butter
1 cup (200g) brown sugar
1 cup (200g) white sugar
¼ cup (100g) molasses
¼ cup (100g) corn syrup
½ tsp orange extract
1 tsp (g) salt
2 tbsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
2 eggs
4 cups (550g) flour
½ tsp baking soda
Method
Melt and mix butter, sugar, brown sugar, molasses, corn syrup, extract, salt, ginger, cinnamon and cloves on low heat until sugar is dissolved.
Remove from heat and allow to cool, about 30 minutes.
Add eggs to cooled sugars mixing well, followed by flour and baking soda. Mix together until combined.
Refrigerate at least 4 hours to develop flavour and harden dough.
Roll dough as thin (about 2-5mm) and cut out shapes.
Bake at 350˚F/180˚C until edges almost start to turn golden, careful not to brown (about 8-10 minutes).
