LunaCafe

Regional, seasonal food with original recipes by Susan S. Bradley

Home/Christmas Cookies/Ellen’s Swedish Pepparkakor

Ellen’s Swedish Pepparkakor

This Swedish cookie is just enough different from all other Scandinavian “gingersnaps” to make it definitely special: delicate, spicy, and hot!

Ellen's Swedish Pepparkakor | LunaCafe

And here’s the final cookie in the Deck The Halls collection, the cookie that I purposely saved to complete this season’s baking extravaganza. Now that I think about it, I almost always save it for last, perhaps letting the anticipation keep my energy level and enthusiasm up through the weeks of baking.

This is Ellen’s cookie, a cookie I would have never known if not for her. She served it on my first visit to her home in Yakima, Washington. The cookies were arranged on an antique silver platter and were offered alongside an antique silver teapot filled with freshly brewed Darjeeling.

The cookies were impossibly thin and crisp and aromatic with spices. By about the third cookie, the heat from the white pepper began to build in my mouth. I had never experienced heat in a cookie before. The cookies were so hot that tears began flowing down my face. But I couldn’t stop eating them.

So in a way, my long and wonderful relationship with Ellen began with these surprising and memorable cookies. For me, they will forever be entwined with memories of her gentle, generous, grateful, and joyful spirit. I know she would want me to share them. They are her gift to you this holiday season.

Jump to Recipe

Here’s the entire LunaCafe Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies: Deck the Halls collection. If you bake along, one cookie a day from December 1st to December 12th, you’ll have a wonderful selection of holiday cookies to share with family and friends, with time to spare.

Ellen's Swedish Pepparkakor | LunaCafe

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Hi,

    I tried to make this today, but the dough was very soft and could not be rolled without sticking. It could also not be cut with a cookie cutter. In the end I made them into lumpy, thick cookies. What did I do wrong?
    Also, should the cloves and cardamom be removed before cooking? I had lumps afterwards in the cookies.

    • Estelle, all spices should be ground. Also, the dough must be thoroughly chilled before rolling, as specified in the recipe. I amended the post to make this more clear. Hope you’ll try again. 🙂

  2. I forgot to put in the egg, and they are winderfully crunchy and sturdy enough to use as a dipper for a pineappke, mango, habañero pepper salsa that I make.

  3. I am going to try your recipe. I married a widower and his first wife was Swedish.
    Her family had a bakery in Sweden. When she died most of her things went with her, when I married her husband I made a promise to her grand child that I would try to get her recipe figured out. To date I’m married twenty years and still haven’t come up with the real thing. I always wondered a bout the white pepper in our cupboard , I will try your recipe and send some to our grandson. This year I am using a recipe that came over in 1927. To date I think I have at least 25 recipes for Pepparkakor cookies and each one is a little different. I’ll keep trying!

    • Kathy, I hope this recipe rings your bell. There are dozens of recipes for Pepparkakor, but this one is exceptional in both texture and flavor. My mother-in-law, Ellen Bradley, who emigrated to America from Finland as a child, used her charming ways to talk the Swedish baker next door into sharing his prized recipe with her. These cookies are a long-time Bradley family tradition.

  4. I used two teaspoons of white pepper and loved the result so much that I could have eaten the whole batch all by myself. They are truly addictive!

  5. Oh my goodness! These little spiced cookies are exactly my type of thing at the holidays. I know some people are all about the frosting and chocolate but pass me the spice!

  8. I always love a little spice in my sweets. We make a chipotle brownie and an ancho-spiced corneal wedge around the Holidays as well. I’ll have to add these to the list!

  11. Those look so festive and inviting! Love the idea of 12 cookies from different countries, so we all get excited about other traditions. ! 🙂

  13. Love the idea of 12 days of Christmas cookies. I especially love learning about cookies from other countries. Wish I could reach through the screen and grab one.

  15. Never mind, Susan, I finally found it. The “jump to recipe” has not been hyperlinked, but there is a “Page 1, Page 2” way down at the very bottom of the post and that link works.

        • These were a big hit at yesterday’s ECW Christmas Gathering. Everyone admitted to liking gingersnaps, but were pleasantly surprised by the orange essence and peak of pepper in them. I just put about 2 teaspoons of freshly ground white pepper in them, as I didn’t want to overpower the other spice. I will be making these again and again.
          Thanks for sharing this surprisingly delicious recipe.

  18. hey,,,, can you order these instead of making them….. ?? Is there a website that I can order from ?
    thanks

  19. Thank you, Susan. I didn’t have this recipe – wonderful memories of ELlen, akind and gentlle spectacular woman!

    • Anonymous, I love this description: a kind, gentle, spectacular woman. She is one of my three angels: the Angel of Gratitude. How she appreciated and praised every little thing, every little kindness. She was a gift in my life.

  22. Hey, that’s so cool! it’s snowing on your site! how did you do that?
    Your 12 days of cookies…very impressive! I’d have a nervous breakdown attempting 12 different kinds! Great job!

    • Cakebrain, I’m daffy over the darn snow. I just love looking at it snowing over all those cookies. 🙂 It’s a widget that MauiJim found somewhere. I’ll see if I can get a location from him for you. Nervous breakdown? LOL… you have that right! MauJim says NEVER AGAIN, but I am already planning next year’s baking. Thanks for visiting the site!

    • Hi Cakebrain … Our site is a WordPress site. I’m not sure if they create this effect for other blogging engines? It was easy to install and worked instantly. Here’s the link for the plugin. “Let it Snow:” . Happy Holidays!

  24. Thanks ever so much for the print option! I look forward to many wonderful cookies thanks to Luna Cafe! Radar

Trackbacks

  1. […] one old world ginger spice cookie? No way! For the Deck the Halls cookie collection, I gave you Ellen’s Swedish Pepparkakor. And for the Starry Night collection, it was Comfort & Joy Spice Cookies. These are very […]

Explore more