Guest Author - Monica Talley

Swedish Cookies (Luciapepparkakor)
Makes approximately 150 small cookies

This is a cookie recipe I received in a cookie tree letter from a friend. Now with my own twist, they don’t last very long around our home. They are especially good with a hot cup of spiced cider in the cold weather.

1 cup dark corn syrup
1 ½ cups light brown sugar
1 cup butter or margarine
2 eggs
1 ½ teaspoons ground cloves
1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
3 Tablespoons minced candied ginger
4 to 5 cups all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking soda

In a large pot over medium-low heat, warm; dark corn syrup, brown sugar, and butter. Heat until this just melts, but no longer. Remove from heat and slowly add the eggs, one at a time. Sift together the spices, flour and baking soda. Stir candied ginger into the flour mixture. This is important so the candied ginger is distributed evenly. Add the flour/spice mixture to the wet ingredients. Place a piece of plastic wrap on the top of the dough. Let dough rest at room temperature overnight. The next day; roll the dough thin (about ¼-inch thin) and cut out cookies using a cookie cutter of your desired shape. Place on a lightly oil sprayed cookie sheet. Bake in a preheated 350F degree oven for 6 minutes. We like to cut the centers of our cookies out and place crushed hard candies in the center of these cookies. This result yields a cookie with a stained glass effect. If you choose this step, make sure you line your cookie sheet with foil and grease liberally or use a Silicone Baking Mat or these will stick. My favorite candy filling is lemon heads or cinnamon stars. The kids love smacking their bags of candies with the rolling pins.