The Brunkager, literally “brown cakes”, are spiced cookies with almonds typical of Christmas in Denmark, brown in color.
They are essentially a peberkage (pepper cake), that is, cookies called “gingerbread”, and are also related to pebernødder (small spiced cookies, called pfeffernüsse in Germany) and honningkager (gingerbread decorated with chocolate glaze), other Danish Christmas specialties.
The ingredients are more or less the same: a spiced dough, commonly flavored with a combination of kenel (cinnamon), canale (ginger), ingefær (cardamom) and nellike (cloves), and the biggest difference lies in the presence of almonds and in the shape, more similar to an American cookies.
Among the ingredients we also find potash, or potassium bicarbonate, which can be replaced by baking soda.
Peberkager can be traced back to the 15th century, while the term brunkager is a more recent invention of the 19th century.
The 19th century was also the period when it became traditional to prepare brunkager during the Christmas period only for the richest people
The term coincides with the iron stove, which made it possible to better regulate the heat. This ensured the better use of potash and to bake the cookies until they became light brown rather than dark brown and too hard to eat.
In Sweden, they are known as pepparkakor and often shaped like men and women, and in Finland as:
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Cheap
- Rest time: 12 Hours
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 12/15 pieces
- Cooking methods: Oven, Stove
- Cuisine: Danish
- Seasonality: Christmas
Ingredients
- 9 oz butter
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 7 oz sugar
- 2.5 oz almonds
- 1 orange (zest only)
- 3 ground cloves
- to taste ground cinnamon
- to taste ground ginger
- 1 1/2 teaspoon potash (or baking soda)
- 17.5 oz flour
Steps
Combine the butter, sugar, and maple syrup in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
Set aside.
Coarsely chop the almonds. Combine them with the grated orange zest, ground cloves, cinnamon, ginger, and potash (or baking soda) dissolved in a little water.
Add to the syrup and finally, the flour.
Knead the dough, create a roll to wrap in parchment paper.
Chill in the refrigerator for 6 hours, preferably overnight.
Cut into 1/10 inch slices.
Bake in the oven at 340°F for 8/10 minutes.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
How do you say cookie in Danish?
If kage stands for cake, cookies are known as småkager in Danish.
