Our Version of Gingerbread!
Brunkager are a classic Christmas cookie in Denmark. “Brunkager” literally means “brown cakes” or “brown cookies,” but because that’s not exactly the most appetizing way to describe them, we call them Danish gingerbread cookies. They are crisp, flavorful, easy to make, and a great family project!
Slicing the Dough vs. Rolling It Out
In Denmark, you will often see brunkager shaped as circles with bits of almond in the dough, but our recipe is a bit different. Molasses, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves flavor this delicious dough, which we roll out and cut into various shapes. We have some pretty fun cookie cutters, most notably a hippo and a pig, and we prefer fun shapes over boring old circles. We’re also just used to the fun December tradition of rolling out and cutting out cookies! That being said, if we ever have to make a huge batch, we will cut the cookies out instead of rolling them out, because it’s way more efficient.
Tips & Tricks
You shouldn’t run into much trouble with this recipe, as it’s pretty foolproof. The dough does need to chill for at least a few hours in the fridge before it can get rolled or cut out. Also, the original Danish recipe calls for an ingredient called potaske (potash or potassium carbonate), but because this is not widely available in the US, we have replaced it with baking soda in our recipe. But we do think that potaske actually gives the cookie a better snap and crunchy texture, so if you can get your hands on it, please do! Let us know below if you have any questions or comments.
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Brunkager (Danish Gingerbread Cookies)
Ingredients
- 100 grams unsalted butter
- 100 grams brown sugar
- 100 grams molasses
- 230 grams all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ginger
- 1/2 tsp cloves
- 1/2 tsp baking soda (or 1 tsp potaske, if you have it)
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- First, melt the butter, sugar, and molasses over a low heat until the sugar dissolves and everything combines.
- Let this cool for 5-10 minutes, or until room temperature.
- Combine the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl. If using potaske, dissolve it in 1 tsp water in a small bowl and omit the baking soda.
- Add the dry ingredients (and potaske, if using it) into the molasses mixture.
- Stir together until no dry spots remain.
- Wrap the final dough in cling film and place in the fridge overnight (or longer), but it should chill for at least 3-4 hours.
- You can also shape the dough into a log and cool it in this shape, if you want to cut out the cookies with a knife instead of rolling them out.
- When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 F (175 C). Line two or three baking sheets with parchment paper (I do two at a time, but up to you and how much oven space you have).
- Take the dough out of the fridge 10-15 minutes before starting to roll it out; it will be very solid.
- Prepare a work surface with plenty of flour.
- Roll out your dough until very thin (this will make them crispy!), adding flour underneath and over top of the dough as you roll to stop the dough from sticking.
- Use cookie cutters to cut out whatever shapes you want. If you cooled the dough in a log shape, just use a sharp knife to cut out round cookies.
- Remove the dough from around the shapes (save the scraps!) to make them easier to move to a baking sheet, or just remove the shapes themselves from the dough around it.
- Place the cookies on a baking sheet, with a little bit of distance between. These cookies don't spread too much, so you should be able to pack the baking sheets pretty full!
- Bake cookies for 6-8 minutes, depending on their thickness. Thin cookies will only take 6 minutes, while thicker ones will take longer. Just keep an eye on them – what you are looking for is a slightly darker color around the edges and on the bottom (but not too dark as this may make them taste slightly burnt!).
- When you take the cookies out, they will still be somewhat soft. You can let them cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before removing and placing on a cooling rack, and when they cool completely they should firm up and become crispy!
- Repeat the rolling out process with the scraps and the remaining dough. If the dough starts to get too crumbly, you can discard it!
- Cool and enjoy! Store in a cookie tin or tupperware container.
Flot website – ser super prof ud. Rigtige gode opskrifter. Glædelig jul og god bagning. Jeg har lavet brunkager, og mangler nu ‘bare’ klejner og vanilje kranse 😘
Mange tak! Og glædelig jul til jer! Vi har faktisk aldrig lavet klejner, men måske er det på tide!
Great recipe. Had just returned from Copenhagen and got some potaske too. Wish I could bottle that cookie smell!
Thanks for using our recipe and so glad you liked it!! It’s definitely one of the best cookie scents!
I’ve tried this twice and both times my dough is SO crumbly…. Taste delicious raw but too crumbly to try and roll out it even slice…. What am I doing wrong ☹️
Hi, so sorry to hear that! I’m thinking it must be one of two things: either your wet ingredients are on too high of a temperature on the stove so some of the liquid is evaporating or you might be leaving some dry spots when you mix the dry ingredients into the wet. Another potential issue is that if you refrigerate the dough for a while, it might need 10-15 minutes at room temperature just to warm up a bit. But I’ve never really experienced this dough as crumbly so I think it must be an issue with the wet ingredients or the mixing of the dough. Hope this helps 🙂
I really enjoyed these cookies. I often find that traditional gingerbread cookies are just a little too snappy for me. These were a great balance of that classic Christmas flavor while also being mild enough to eat 5 at once.
Worth the labor rolling out the dough and cutting the shapes! These cookies really are a great classic flavor, we can’t go without them each Christmas!
This is my second year making these at Christmas, and I love them so much! I used dark muscovado sugar to really amp up the treacly taste, and plant butter so I can share them with my vegan friends. They’re so delicious!
Yay, so happy to hear it! Thank you for using our recipe and leaving a comment 🙂
I have an old danish recipe from a friend, which is similar, but has to stay in the fridge for 2-4 weeks before baking (because of the potash, I was told). I shape logs and just slice, so easy to do and handy because I can bake small amounts, bit by bit!
Yes, you can definitely leave the dough for a week or two before baking, or cut a few off the dough log every week to bake, that brings out the flavors! I’m not sure if it makes the potaske work any better, tbh as long as you dissolve it in water before adding it into the dough I think the texture will be crispy, just the way it should be, but it might make the final cookie a little bit more flavorful 🙂
i’m so excited to make these, i have some danish heritage, and this year, i got the kids a nisse, i plan on making these for the tree on christmas morning. jeg er laering dansk, men kan taler meget lidt. jeg kan laser beder. also i can’t spell. tak for optskrift!
Selv tak! That sounds so lovely – Danish Christmas traditions are the best. Hope you enjoy these cookies – you can totally make the dough ahead of time, by the way, and just refrigerate it until you’re ready to bake 🙂
Being married to a Dane, I’ve been making these for the many decades of our marriage. They are a pain to roll out because they have to be thin, but they are worth it. They’re like potato chips and you can’t eat just one. Not one of his relatives has tasted a brune kager like this recipe. They make ones with added almonds which can be sliced. I’ve never made those. Everyone I’ve given these to seems to love them. They are the essence of Christmas.
Glad you love them!! Yes, we know a lot of Danes who do the almond ones that you can slice and most of the packaged ones come like that too. You can slice these if you roll the dough into a log, but we’ve always done the fun shapes in our family – not sure why!