Swiss Tirggel (Spiced Gingerbread Cookies)
Tirggel are traditional Swiss spiced gingerbread cookies with honey, almonds, and warming spices. Chewy inside with slightly crisp edges, they're a beloved Alpine treat.
- Total time
- 45 min
- Servings
- 12
- Calories
- 185
- Protein
- 4g
Ingredients
- 1 cup honey
- 2.5 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 tablespoons butter, softened
- ¾ cup sliced almonds, finely ground
- ⅓ cup honey-roasted or candied orange peel, finely chopped
- 1.5 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- 1
Set the oven to 350°F and wait until the indicator light or beep tells you it has finished heating, about 10 minutes.
- 2
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, placing them side by side on your work surface.
- 3
Pour 1 cup honey into a large bowl and let it sit for 1 minute so it is easier to measure and mix.
- 4
Add 4 tablespoons softened butter to the honey and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture looks pale and slightly fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- 5
Sprinkle 1.5 teaspoons ground ginger, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and 0.5 teaspoon salt over the honey-butter mixture and stir until no dry specks remain.
- 6
Add 0.75 cup finely ground almonds and 0.33 cup finely chopped candied orange peel and stir until evenly distributed throughout.
- 7
Sift 2.5 cups flour into the bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until a thick, slightly sticky dough forms with no dry flour visible.
- 8
Wet your hands under cold water, shake off excess, then pinch off a piece of dough about the size of a walnut and roll it between your palms into a smooth ball.
- 9
Place the ball on the prepared baking sheet and gently flatten it with your thumb to about 0.5 inch thick, creating a slightly domed cookie.
- 10
Repeat steps 8–9 until all dough is shaped, spacing cookies about 1.5 inches apart on both baking sheets.
- 11
Place one baking sheet on the center rack of the preheated oven and bake for 12–15 minutes until the edges are light golden brown and the center still looks slightly soft.
- 12
Remove the baking sheet from the oven using oven mitts and slide it onto a cooling rack to cool for 5 minutes.
- 13
While the first batch cools, repeat step 11 with the second baking sheet.
- 14
After 5 minutes, use a thin metal spatula to gently lift each cooled cookie from the first sheet and transfer it to a wire cooling rack.
- 15
Repeat step 14 with the second batch of cookies and let all cookies cool completely for at least 15 minutes before serving or storing in an airtight container.
Tools you’ll need
- oven
- two baking sheets
- parchment paper
- large mixing bowl
- wooden spoon
- whisk or sifter
- two wire cooling racks
- thin metal spatula
- oven mitts
Cook smarter
Get matched recipes for what’s in your fridge
CookSnap is a free iOS app that finds real recipes from the ingredients you already have. No more grocery-list aspirations.
