Pepparkakor - Gingerbread Cookies

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These are by far my favorite holiday cookies. The Swedish Pepparkakor are identical with Finnish Piparkakut and taking a bite of one of these takes me back home for a moment. We would use our gingerbread boy, girl, pig and scalloped cookie cutters and decorate the baked cookies with Royal Icing. I also use the same recipe for Gingerbread houses and Christmas trees. I just bake them a little longer so they are sturdy enough for building.

This year I actually decided to bake some of these before Thanksgiving, thus the pictured leaf shapes.

• Pepparkakkor (from Allrecipes.com)
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• 8 ounces butter (2 sticks)
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 tablespoon dark baking syrup, see note below (or light corn syrup, or molasses)
• 1 egg
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground cloves
• 1/4 cup orange juice 
• 2 teaspoons orange zest
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• 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
• 2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Stir in egg, corn syrup, orange juice, and orange zest. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves; stir into the creamed mixture until combined. Chill in the fridge at least a few hours. I generally wait till the next day.
• 3. Roll dough out to 1/8 inch thickness, and cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies on wire racks.

Note: Dark baking syrup is something that I grew up with in Finland. It is used instead of molasses or corn syrup and has much nicer taste than regular American molasses. If you'd like, you can find it at Ikea's Swedish Food Market.

Royal Icing (also from Allrecipes.com)

• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 2 egg whites, beaten (see note below)
• Lemon extract, optional
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• In a bowl, sift together confectioners' sugar and cream of tartar. Using electric mixer, beat in 2 beaten egg whites for about 5 minutes or until mixture is thick enough to hold its shape. 
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Note: I do not use egg whites for my Royal Icing. I substitute Meringue Powder which has substitution instructions on the container. Meringue powder is basically dried and powdered egg whites and poses no health risks. You can find it on the cake decorating aisle at your local craft store or walmart.

Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake

This was my dessert choice at Thanksgiving dinner. It was a delicious alternative to the traditional pumpkin pie. I added extra spices as usual!

• Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake (modified from an Allrecipes recipe)
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• 3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sour cream
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• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch ground cloves
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg
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• 1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust (recipe follows)
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• 1/2 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed
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• 1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Prepare a waterbath to bake the cheesecake in. 
• 2. In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Blend in eggs one at a time. Then stir in sour cream. Remove 1 1/2 cups of batter and spread into bottom of crust; set aside.
• 3. Add pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to the remaining batter and stir gently until well blended. Carefully spread over the batter in the crust.
• 4. Bake in a preheated oven for 1 hr to 1 hr 15 min or until center is almost set. Turn off the oven, prop over door open with a wooden spoon and let cheesecake cool in the oven for another hour. Then refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Cover with whipped topping before serving.

Graham Cracker Crust (from Allrecipes)

• 1 1/2 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
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• 1. Mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar, melted butter or margarine, and cinnamon until well blended . Press mixture into an 9 inch pie plate or springform pan.
• 2. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 7 minutes. Cool. If recipe calls for unbaked pie shell, just chill for about 1 hour.

Here are great instructions for using waterbath to bake cheesecakes. I found them at Diana's Desserts.

" Water Bath " For Baking Cheesecakes

A "water bath" is a method that will help keep your cheesecake from cracking while baking.

Instructions For Water Bath

First, take heavy aluminum foil, and wrap it around sides and bottom of your springform pan or cheesecake pan with removable bottom. This prevents leakage while baking your cheesecake.

Place your springform pan or cheesecake pan (filled with cheesecake batter and crust) into a larger deep baking pan* that it will fit into easily.

*Note: The larger pan should be at least 2-3 inches in depth.

Place in pre-heated oven. With a kettle filled with very hot water, pour water into the larger pan about halfway up, or approximately 1 1/2 to 2 inches.

Bake cheesecake as directed. When cheesecake is done, remove springform pan or cheesecake pan (if using) from "water bath" in oven. Carefully remove larger pan with water in it from oven. It will be very hot. Discard water when it has cooled.

Remove aluminim foil from sides and bottom of pan after your cheescake has cooled completely in the refrigerator.

When you are ready to release sides of springform pan, or remove cheesecake from a cheesecake pan with removable bottom (if using) and cheescake has cooled in refrigerator at least 4 hours or overnight; this is the best time to remove aluminum foil.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

To celebrate December 1st I made these puppies. I found them on a blog that I just discovered. They're yummy, delicious and so addicting. I like to eat them when they've chilled a bit in the fridge. Make them, they're so easy and fun!


Pumpkin Whoopie Pies (from eatliverun.com)

3 cups all purpose flour
2 cups packed dark brown sugar
1 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups pumpkin
1 tsp baking power
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground white pepper


Frosting: I used my cream cheese frosting (using vanilla instead of lemon)


1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, beat together the brown sugar and oil. Add the pumpkin and eggs and mix well. Set aside.
3. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground cloves, ginger, cinnamon, ground white pepper, salt and nutmeg.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix.
5. Scoop (or pipe) golf ball sized portions of batter onto lined baking sheets. Bake for twelve minutes. Let cool thoroughly before sandwiching together with frosting.


Have we had enough pumpkin and cream cheese recipes yet? I sure don't think so...

Pulla - Finnish Sweet Bread

Last night I had a craving for some good homemade Pulla. Pulla is sweet bread that is a traditional Finnish treat enjoyed at most every gathering. Plus, it makes your house smell heavenly. I like to enjoy mine with a cup of hot chocolate but traditionally it is served with coffee.

Instead of using one of the many Pulla recipes online, I just used the same dough recipe that I use for my cinnamon rolls. I add about 2 teaspoons of ground cardamon to the wet ingredients before adding flour. After the dough is done, divide it in half. Then divide each half into three, four or five pieces, depending how you want to braid the Pulla. Roll each piece into a 12 to 16 inch strip. Then just braid away! (Or if you don't want to deal with braiding, just make little rolls out of the dough.) Place the two braided loaves on a greased baking sheet and let rise until doubled. Then brush with egg wash, sprinkle some pearl sugar (found in Ikea) on top and bake at 375 degrees for about 20 to 25 minutes, depending on size.

Best served when warm but still great the next day, especially when dipped in hot chocolate...

You can add raisins and slivered almonds to the dough for variety, and if you don't have/want to use pearl sugar you can just use regular sugar or sprinkle slivered/chopped almonds on top.