pepper cookies photo

Piparkökur

Courtesy of Heidi Herman-Kerr

Icelandic Pepper cookies are very light and crispy with a mild pepper flavor.

 

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups butter, softened

  • 1 1/4 cups white sugar

  • 3/4 cup light corn syrup

  • 2 eggs

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour

  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

  • 1 teaspoon baking soda

  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

  • 2 teaspoons ground cloves

  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger

  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Procedure

  1. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the corn syrup and eggs mixing well after each addition.

  2. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and pepper.   Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture, and mix until smooth.

  3. The dough will be very soft.   Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight.

  4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with wax paper.  Roll dough into ½” balls and place on prepared baking sheet at least 2” apart.

  5. Place ½ cup of flour in a shallow dish, the using a smooth-bottom glass, dip into the flour and press the cookies flat.

  6. Dough will be sticky, so dip the glass in flour after each press.  Cookies will grow larger when in the oven, so be sure to keep them spaced even after they are pressed.

  7. Bake for 10 minutes then remove from oven and cool on baking racks.  When cool, gently peel the cookies from the wax paper.  They will be very thin and crisp.  Store in cookie jar or sealed container.

Yields approximately 60 cookies