Scandinavian Christmas baking 2 ~ hvite pepperkaker

Hvite Pepperkake 
December 3rd  

Each Christmas there are so many
magazines that encourage
you to make and create, many
are a general magazine and
not specifically aimed at
bakers or knitter etc, a good
all-round Christmas magazine!

My daughter loves the tradition of the 7 cookies being baked for Christmas and I believe she will continue the tradition but she is not overly keen on Norway's favourite Chrismas cookie, the pepperkaker . So with that in mind, I thought to search out an alternative, I did not have to look far.  In this year's, Allers Ideer,  (Norwegian magazine) along with many family favourites were the 'white pepperkaker'.  Looking at the ingredients, it was clear to see there was less warmth and spice in the cookie and more of a shortbread with a hint of Christmas taste, it looked to be just the thing.  I scurried off to make the dough and as with pepperkaker, this needs to be made the night before you intend to bake the cookies.

Double page spread of Christmas cookies, with the
hvite pepperkake seen on the right with green and red icing.

Hvite Pepperkaker ♥ makes approx 80 - 100 cookies

Remember to make
the dough THE NIGHT BEFORE

NOTE 1:  make the dough the night before you need to bake the cookies

NOTE 2: As with traditional pepperkake only take out the amount of dough you need to roll as the less handling of this dough the better, it soon softens upon rolling out.

NOTE 3: I found the dough a little crumbly, so added a touch of water to alleviate this problem.

You will need:     

250 g sugar
200 g butter, softened                                       
2 eggs                                                                           
1/4 tsp ground ginger                   
800 g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp bakers ammonia OR 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda AND 1 tsp of baking powder
3 drops of almond essence OR finely grated lemon peel
decoration ingredients  if desired

Slice a small amount of dough to roll out at a time

♥  Whisk together the sugar and butter, when pale and fluffy add egg one at a time and whisk well between each egg to avoid curdling.

♥  Add ginger, flour, bakers ammonia OR the bicarbonate and baking powder combination and 1 dsp of water.  Add either the almond essence OR lemon peel.  Mix well to form a dough.

♥  Put the dough in a plastic food bag and leave in the fridge for a minimum of 8 hours or overnight.

♥  Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.

♥  Use only a small piece of dough at a time, I slice a section off and roll on a floured surface, to a
thickness of about 3-4 mm in depth.

Can you see the odd one out?
There is one pepperkaker
amidst the hvite pepperkaker

♥  Cut out shapes as desired, as always I tend to stick to hearts and place on a baking sheet with grease-proof paper.

♥  Bake in the middle of the oven for about 10 minutes, or until they are a gentle golden colour.

♥  Cool on a wire rack before decorating if desired and store in an airtight container, they can store for up to a couple of weeks.

Hvite pepperkaker:  Some decorated with white icing
and silver glitter and others left plain

Just waiting for Ella to return home from uni for the verdict, wonder what she will think!

♥  Do these sound like your sort of cookie?