Dear Eric: I hope that, with your Latvian heritage, you can help. Years ago, you ran a column on Christmas cookies. I'm trying to recall if you included Latvian ginger cookies (piparkukas). I cut out the pages, but can't find them.
I recently baked my mother-in-law's recipe and they didn't turn out the way she made them. The original Latvian recipe is by weight. She converted it to more convenient ounces and cups, but I find that the conversions are not quite correct.
So, my question, before I try another batch, is did you publish a recipe for piparkukas? If so, can you help me find it? If you do find it, another question, is how thick are these supposed to be? My recipe has no recommendations. I have limited baking skills and I am trying to keep family recipes alive, but edible.
Louise Egan Miska
Dear Louise: When Louise speaks of my Latvian heritage, she's talking about my late father's side of the family. His name was Imants Akis, and my grandparents and he immigrated to Canada after the Second World War.
When I was growing up, Latvia, then occupied by the Soviet Union, was often discussed when my father and grandparents met. The conversations were often sad ones of what could have been, but at least there was lots of good Latvian-style food, such as sprats (canned smoked fish), bacon buns and my grandmother's jumbo hamburger steaks.
Around Christmas there were tasty ginger cookies, too. As a kid, I just inhaled them, and it wasn't until I received Louise's query that I realized the Latvian connection.
There's a wonderful story about these crisp, thin cookies, also called Christmas spice, gingerbread or "pepper" cookies, in an older cookbook I have, titled Latvian Cooking.
In the introduction to that book's recipe, it says these cookies are an old Christmastime tradition in Latvia. After baking, the recipe's author says her grandmother would store these cookies in a cotton pillowcase and hang them from the beams over the woodstove in the kitchen.
This would ensure the cookies stayed dry and crisp.
This style of cookie is enjoyed in other parts of northern Europe. The recipe Louise is remembering from my column on Christmas cookies was a Swedish version a friend gave me called "pep-parkakor." It, even in Swedish, sound similar to the Latvian name for the cookie, "piparkukas."
Recipes for the cookie, whether Latvian, Swedish or other nationality, are similar in style, but ingredients and method can vary from state to state, household to household.
For example, my Swedish version published today uses molasses and milk, while Louise's Latvian grandmother's recipe uses corn syrup and whipping cream, creating a lighter-looking cookie.
In Latvian Cooking, both molasses and corn syrup are used, and lard is the fat of choice, while butter is used in the recipes noted above. The types and amounts of spices used can also vary, but ground ginger is always there.
This cookie takes a bit of time to make and the dough needs an overnight rest in the refrigerator. But during baking, it brings the promise of spice-rich cookies and fills a home with the aroma that reminds us Christmas is almost here.
SWEDISH-STYLE PEPPARKAKOR
After baking, the flavour of these spice-rich cookies seems to get even better if aged a little. A week or two in a tight-sealing container at room temperature is what I would recommend, but in my house these cookies never seem to stay around that long.
Preparation time: 40 to 50 minutes, plus overnight resting
Cooking time: 10-12 minutes, per sheet
Makes: 6 to 7 dozen cookies (or more or less, depending on size of cookie cutter)
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus some for the work surface
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup cooking molasses
1 large egg, beaten
3 Tbsp 2 per cent or whole milk
Place the 3 cups flour, sugar, baking soda and spices in a large bowl, or bowl of your stand mixer, and mix well to combine.
Place the butter and molasses in a small pot set over low heat. Mix and stir until the butter is melted and combined with the molasses. Cool a few minutes, and then add the butter mixture, and the egg and milk, to the flour mixture and beat with an electric mixer or by hand, or with the paddle attachment of your stand mixer, until well combined. Dough will appear quite wet.
Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface. Cut dough into quarters. Set one quarter of the dough on a large sheet of plastic wrap. Flatten the dough until about 1-inch thick. Securely wrap and refrigerate overnight. Repeat these steps with the remaining three pieces of dough.
To make cookies, preheat oven to 350 F. Unwrap one of the dough quarters and set on a lightly floured surface. With a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough to 1/8-inch thick. Cut dough with cookie cutters and place on a large, or two if smaller, parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. Gather up the scraps of dough, and roll and cut into cookies as well. Bake in the middle of the oven (one sheet at a time if using two sheets) 10-12 minutes, or until set. Repeat these steps with other dough quarters.
Once completely cooled, transfer cookies to cookie tins or containers.
Note: This dough, unbaked and tightly wrapped, will keep in the refrigerator several days. It also freezes well; thaw in refrigerator overnight before using.
LATVIAN-STYLE PIPARKUKAS
This recipe was created from one reader Louise Egan Miska sent me, which was passed on to her by her grandmother, Mirdza. I halved that large-yield recipe, use cups instead of weight measures, and provided much more detail on how to make the cookie in the method, something lacking in the original recipe.
Preparation time: 40-50 minutes, plus overnight resting
Cooking time: 10 to 12 minutes, per sheet
Makes: 6-7 dozen cookies (or more or less, depending on size of cookie cutter)
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus some for the work surface
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup golden corn syrup
3/4 cup butter, cut into cubes
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Place the 3 3/4 cups flour, baking soda and baking powder in a medium to large bowl. Whisk to combine, and then set aside.
Place sugar and corn syrup in a double boiler and set over just-simmering water. Mix and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat. Transfer mixture to a mixing bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer.
Add the butter and spices into the sugar/syrup mixture. Mix until the butter is melted and spices blended with the sugar and syrup.
Place the whipping cream in another bowl and beat until stiff peaks form. Beat, using the paddle attachment if using a stand mixer, the whipped cream into the syrup/butter mixture until well combined. Now add the flour mixture and mix until well incorporated. The dough will appear quite wet.
Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface. Cut dough into quarters. Set one quarter of the dough on a large sheet of plastic wrap. Flatten the dough until about 1-inch thick. Securely wrap and refrigerate overnight. Repeat these steps with the remaining three pieces of dough.
To make cookies, preheat oven to 350 F. Unwrap one of the dough quarters and set on a lightly floured surface. With a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough to 1/8-inch thick.
Cut dough with cookie cutters and place on a large (or on two small), parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. Gather up the scraps of dough, and roll and cut into cookies as well. Bake in the middle of the oven (one sheet at a time if using two sheets) 10 to 12 minutes, or until set. Repeat these steps with other dough quarters.
Transfer cooled cookies to cookie tins or containers.
Note: This dough, unbaked and tightly wrapped, will keep in the refrigerator several days. It also freezes well; thaw in refrigerator overnight before using.
Eric Akis is the author of the just-published, hardcover book Everyone Can Cook Everything. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday. Submit cooking questions by email or write to Ask Eric, Times Colonist, 2621 Douglas St., Victoria BC, V8T 4M2.
