Scandibakes Pepperkake
The most famous Scandinavian Christmas biscuits, and my own very favourite, is the Pepperkake, which gets its name from the unusual fact, that it actually have pepper in the recipe. There are many different versions of pepperkake, but the one I will share first with you, is my very own version. It is easier to make that the traditional ones and in my opinion, they are delicious and have been very popular with our customers.


Ingredients
200gr room temperature butter, or margarine
200gr sugar
1/2 ts salt
1ts vanilla essence
3ts cinnamon
3/4ts cloves
1/2ts ginger
1/2ts black pepper
1ts bicarbonate of soda
2tbs sirup
300gr white plain flour
Instructions
Add the butter, sugar, spices, salt, vanilla and sirup to your mixer bowl and use a paddle attachment on medium speed until all the all the ingrediencies are well mixed. Finally add the flour and turn the mixer on slow just until the flour is mixed in. I then usually wrap the biscuit dough in clingfilm and let it rest for a while. In the meantime turn the oven on to 175C and prepare your baking area. I like to use a silicone baking mat lightly sprinkled with flour, as the dough is less likely to stick when you roll it out, but it is not necessary. It is easier to roll out the dough in portions, because it gets quite big. I like using a rolling pin with adjustable thickness rings, but any rolling pin will do the job. If you place a sheet of baking paper on the top of the dough, you won't have a problem with it sticking to the rolling pin either. I prefer the biscuits thin and crispy, si I usually roll the dough to about 2-3mm thickness, but if you like them a bit thicker, that is fine too, just adjust the bakpepperkake and place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake them for approximately 14 minutes. Ovens vary, so keep an eye on them. After they have cooled down, you can decorate them with icing sugar, sprinkles, smarties, or whatever you like. Let the kids go crazy, while you sit back and enjoy some mulled wine.
