Piparkakut (Finnish Gingerbread Biscuits)

Yield: Depends on the size of your cookie cutter(s). We made about 40 scalloped circles and 24 hearts.

Ingredients

• ⅔ cup (227g) molasses or black treacle
• 6 ¾ Tbsp (84g) granulated sugar
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground Burlap & Barrel Cloud Forest Cardamom*
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp orange zest
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking soda
• ½ cup + 2 ½ tsp (125g) unsalted butter, softened & cubed
• 1 large egg
• 2 ⅔ cups (320g) all-purpose flour

*You may wish to grind this high-quality cardamom into a finer powder for baking purposes.

Directions

1. In a medium pot over medium heat, mix together molasses (or black treacle), sugar, spices, orange zest, and salt. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil, then remove from heat.
   NOTE: Trust that you will need a medium or large pot, as this mixture will puff up a lot in the next step.
2. Mix in baking soda and allow mixture to froth for 2–3 minutes without disturbing.
3. Add butter a couple pieces at a time, gently mixing to melt. Pour mixture into a large bowl.
4. Let mixture cool completely. After it's cool, mix in the egg.
5. Mix in half of the flour, then mix in other half of flour until a dough forms. The dough will be rather thick and sticky.
6. Lay cling film flat on work surface. Plop half of dough onto cling film. Wrap dough and press into a slab that’s about ½" thick. Repeat for other half of dough. Place wrapped dough in fridge for at least 8 hours or overnight.
7. When you’re ready to make your cookies, heat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
8. Liberally flour your work surface and rolling pin. Retrieve one dough slab from fridge, place on your work surface, and sprinkle top with flour.
9. Roll out dough to between 1/16 and ⅛" (2–3mm) thick. Using your new Ann Clark scalloped circle and heart cookie cutters, cut out shapes, putting similar sized shapes on the same baking sheet. Brush excess flour off of cookies.
   NOTE: Since the cookies are so thin and the dough is kinda sticky, you may want to use an offset spatula to transfer the cookies from your work surface to the baking sheet.
10. Bake for 6–8 minutes or until the edges set. Cool on baking sheet for 5–10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack. Cookies will crisp up as they cool.

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Adapted from: K-Ruoka