Recipe
Brunkager (Danish Gingerbread Cookies)
These traditional Danish Christmas cookies have a wonderful warm taste of Christmas spices. They have a crispy texture and are so easy to bake. This is my family's traditional recipe, I hope you'll enjoy it!
Prep Time 30 minutes Cook Time 50 minutes Chill time 2 hours Time: 3 hours 20 minutes 
Difficulty: Intermediate
Yield: 150 cookies*Ingredients
- 125 g almonds
- 500 g unsalted butter
- 500 g granulated sugar
- 250 g light syrup (corn syrup works)
- 10 g ground cloves
- 20 g ground cinnamon
- 5 g ground cardamom
- 15 g potash (potassium carbonate)
- Water (warm)
- 800-900 g all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Blanch the almonds and chop them roughly.125 g almonds
- Put butter, sugar, and light syrup in a saucepan and melt them together over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Don't let it boil. Once melted, remove the pan from the heat and let the mixture cool for 10-15 minutes.500 g unsalted butter, 500 g granulated sugar, 250 g light syrup
- Add the chopped almonds along with the ground cloves, ground cinnamon, and ground cardamom.10 g ground cloves, 20 g ground cinnamon, 5 g ground cardamom
- Dissolve the potash in a little warm water. Add the potash mixture to the cookie dough and stir well. Let the dough cool slightly.15 g potash, Water
- Add the flour a little at a time while kneading the dough. The exact amount of flour needed will depend on the flour itself and the temperature, but most important is that the dough should come together into a smooth, pliable dough. Divide the dough into long logs, wrap each one in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.800-900 g all-purpose flour
- Using a very sharp knife, cut the dough into slices as thin as possible and place them on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake the brunkager at 175 °C (347 °F) for 6-8 minutes, depending on how thin they're sliced, until golden. Don't let the edges burn.
Notes
*One batch of this recipe makes 150-200 cookies.
You can easily halve the recipe, or freeze the dough so you can bake Danish brunkager all December long.