Piparkūkas - Latvian Christmas Cookies

My mom's piparkūkas have always been the best - thin, crispy, flavorful, and a lovely shade of brown. A number of years ago when a friend and I decided to finally dive into this important tradition, I requested mom's recipe. It turned out to be one used in the Milwaukee Latvian community, and had been passed down by Puķītes kundze (Mrs. Puķīte). The original recipe is what I call "church-sized," as it requires three pounds each of butter and brown sugar, three bottles of corn syrup, and an enormous amount of flour. I have modified it for a more reasonable one pound each of butter and sugar and one bottle of syrup. Originally the recipe called for seven spices plus grated lemon and orange rinds. After my first experience grating rinds, I made an executive chef decision to cut them from the recipe.

Several years ago another friend asked that I teach her how to make "my" dough. She had never made piparkūkas from scratch, and thought my cookies were always delicious. Thus the annual dough-making party was born. After skipping the last two years, I once again joined several friends in their home where we worked to prepare two batches of "regular" dough and one batch of gluten-free. If one is accustomed to making something such as chocolate chip cookie batter, for which one can rather quickly throw together all the ingredients and soon after have freshly baked cookies, one might not understand why a work bee is necessary to make piparkūkas.

Ilga and I (with spice bag in hand) work at the stovetop. Thanks to Ilga for the pic!

Seeing as all good things take time, the piparkūkas process takes a couple of hours; if doing it on your own, it can get a bit tiresome and boring. The very first step is sifting all the flour for the recipe. The next step is slowly melting the butter, sugar and syrup together while also incorporating the spices. Next, while this caramelly gooey and fantastically scented mixture is still hot, one slowly incorporates approximately 2/3 of the flour. 

Then remove the pot from the stove, cover it with a clean dishcloth and place it in a cool spot -- outside, for example. In our case we used this time to eat dinner - a lovely Latvian-style meal with ham and potatoes. (The leftover ham was later cut up for use in pīrāgi.)

Once the dough has cooled, one has to incorporate the remaining flour with a couple of other ingredients, and this involves the old-fashioned roll-up-your-sleeves method of kneading the dough. So, as you can see, the process is relatively time-consuming and certainly best done with at least one friend.

Guntis & Cameron take on the work of kneading.

Below is the full recipe in Latvian. If you desperate for an English-language version, let me know!

Milvoku Annas Puķītes piparkūkas (t.i. „ļoti garšīgas peperkūkas”) –
Dainas/Vašingtonas versija

8,5 – 9 krūzes milti izsijāti (loti svarīgi, ka visi milti tiek īsi pirms mīklas gatavošanas sijāti)
1 lb sviests
1 lb tumšais sīrups „Karo” (dark corn syrup). Var arī mēğināt izmantot medus/”molasses” kombinācīju.
1 lb tumši brūns cukurs (tas dod tumšāku krāsu nekā gaišais)
2 vai vairāk tējkarotes krustnagliņu pulveris (clove)
2 vai vairāk tējkarotes muskatriekstu pulveris (nutmeg)
2 vai vairāk tējkarotes ingvērs (ginger)
2 vai vairāk tējkarotes kanēlis (cinnamon)
2 vai vairāk tējkarotes “coriander”
2 vai vairāk tējkarotes “cardamon”
2 vai vairāk tējkarotes pipari
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Visus produktus – atskaitot miltus – uzvāra kopā ar garšvielām lielā katlā, vāra uz zemas uguns un iznāk karameles sīrups (t.i. līdz cukurs izkusis un visas garšvielas kārtīgi iemaisītas).
Kad viss savārīts, tad vārošā iekuļ 2/3 miltus. Atdzesē apmēram stundu vai ilgāk ja vēl par karstu (vislabāk katlam pārklāt tīru trauku dvieli, un katlu ielikt garažā vai izlikt ārā). Pieliek 1 sakultu olu, 1 tējkaroti cepjamo pulveri un apmēram ½ paciņu raugu, (vislabāk ir olu sakult bļodiņā, tur klāt iemasīt pulveri un raugu) un to iemaisa un tad ar roku iemīca atlikušos miltus.
Mīklu izveido 4-6 bumbās vai kukulīšos. Satin vaska papīrā katru atsevišķi (netīt alumīnija papīrā – tas pielīp), ieliek plastikas maisiņos un glabā ledusskapī. Kad grib cept, tad izņem un tur istabas temperatūrā pāris stundas. Mīkla lieliski rullējas un neplīst vai nedrūp. Cep uz viegli smērētām pannām, 350 grādu krāsnī (tikai kādas 6-7 minūtes, atkarībā no cepumu biezuma un lieluma). Ļoti ārti cepas un sadeg. Jāuzmana!
Vēl piezīmes:
• Mīklu var ledusskapī droši vairākas nedēļas uzglabāt. Vislabāk ir ja mīkla vismaz vairākas dienas ledusskapī stāvējusi pirms cepšanas – kaut kā tad garšvielas visas kopā labāk savijas un izceļas.
• Izceptas piparkūkas uzglabā “Tupperware” vai līdzīgā kaste/bļodā ar ciešu vāku.
• Oriğinalā recepta pieprasa 2 tējkarotes no katras garšvielas, bet īstenibā garšīgak ir ja pievieno 3 tājkarotes no katras. Ja lieto novecojušas garšvielas, tad droši pievieno vismaz 3 tejkarotes. (Jaunākām/svaigākām garšvielām ir izteikti stiprāka garša.)