Piparkakku - Finnish spiced biscuit

Over medium heat, cook the syrup, butter, sugar and spices together until you obtain a smooth, shiny mixture.

Then let this preparation cool, about 20 to 30 minutes.

Once the sugar, butter and spice mixture has cooled, add the eggs to it. Mix well.

Then add the baking soda to the flour and add them little by little to the mixture. I recommend starting by mixing with a whisk, then with a wooden spoon, and finally mix the dough with your hands.

Once the dough is well kneaded and homogeneous, cover it and place it in the refrigerator for a minimum of 24h.

See you in 24h for the rest! I'm kidding, the continuation is just below ⬇️

Preheat your oven to 175 degrees.
To avoid the risk of losing your first batch, I recommend testing your dough. To do this, take a small ball of dough and roll it out to a thickness of 3 to 4 millimeters. Shape it to your liking and bake it in a hot oven.
If your dough spreads during the baking process and your shape is not retained, it means that your dough lacks flour! Add more flour and repeat the test. When the cookie bakes without deforming, the dough is ready!

Roll out your dough to a thickness of 3 to 4 millimeters. Choose the cookie cutters you want. Personally, I prefer the classics: tree, star, reindeer, flower and heart!

On your baking sheet, lay out some baking paper and place your cookies not too close to each other.

Bake your cookies for 4 to 6 minutes (depending on the oven). Remove them when they start to get very lightly browned. They should be soft when they come out of the oven; they will harden as they cool.

Be careful, piparkakku burn quickly, so watch your oven!