Finnish Gingerbread Cookie

You won't find many recipes on my blog, but every so often I feel the need to share some of my most favourite things. 

These gingerbread cookies are tradition at our house. I remember making them with mom and my siblings when we were just teeny tiny. Mom must have had the patience of a saint to bake with all three of us. 

We lived in Sault Ste Marie when I was little, where half the population was Finnish (the other half Italian) back in the 60's and 70's. Probably still is. This meant that the month of December was full of yuletide festivities and visiting from house to house. If you visit any Finnish (or Scandinavian) household for coffee, there is always a plate of cookies and cake offered with coffee. So, we made about 400 of these gingerbread cookies each year to get through the holidays. 

My sister and I were assigned tasks to make the baking evening  to go quickly and efficiently. As the eldest, I was entrusted with taking them out of the oven and putting them outside on the doorstep to cool faster so that we could keep the cookie sheets in action. The snow on the doorstep melted under those pans and turned into a sheet of ice after cookie baking day! 

Nowadays, is just hubby and I making them together, while I reminisce (yet again) about my childhood. Hubby just nods, he has heard it all before ; )      

This recipe makes a whole lot of cookies so is perfect for a cookie exchange, or you may want to half the recipe. Let me know if you want to buy a dozen or two, haha, as I have plenty ; ) 

Makes about 125 cookies. Is chilled over night so make the dough the day before you need them. 

400 gr sugar

1 cup golden syrup ( We use Roger's)

1 cup water

1 tbsp cloves

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tbsp ginger

1 tbsp dried, ground orange or lemon peel. Not candied peel. If you cannot find this at the deli, you can grate some fresh orange peel into the recipe instead. 

2 tsp baking soda

1 kg flour 

Put the water, sugar, syrup, and orange peel into a pot. Bring to a boil and let cool. 

Mix together the remaining ingredients. The recipe says to melt the baking soda in just a wee titch of water and add at the end with the water mix but we just add it to the dry ingredients and have not noticed any difference.

Mix all the ingredients together until the dough is well blended and firm. It will be wet and sticky but not runny. 

Place in a bowl, cover top with cling wrap, chill in the fridge overnight or for at least 12 hours.

Cut the dough into 2 or 3 manageable chunks. It will be very firm. Lightly flour the counter. Roll out thin, to about 1/8th of an inch. 

Place on greased cookie sheet and bake at 375°F for about 10 minutes, or till the edges begin to get a hint of brown. 

Place in an air tight container or into bags so they do not dry out and stay nice and chewy throughout the season. 

These are truly amazing tasting gingerbread cookies. I hope you give them a try. 

Yuletide Greetings from our house to yours ~ Tanja