That morning Pippi was busy making pepparkakor--a kind of Swedish cookie. She had made an enormous amount of dough and rolled it out on the kitchen floor. "Because," said Pippi to her little monkey, "what earthly use is a baking board when one plans to make at least five hundred cookies?"

Pippi Longstocking does everything on a grand scale: She plays rooftop tag with policemen, buys penny candy by the wheelbarrowful and cooks for a crowd--though her guests are usually just Tommy and Annika, her painfully normal next-door neighbors.

At our house, we can never read Astrid Lindgren's PIPPI LONGSTOCKING without whipping up a batch of pepparkakor: a delicately spiced Swedish cookie. If you're going to make less than, say, 250, use a bread board. But if, like Pippi, you feel that there's never enough to go around, you'll need to sweep and flour your kitchen floor.

SWEDISH PEPPARKAKOR

3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 large egg
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda, dissolved in 1 tbsp. water
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. salt

In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the molasses and egg. Stir in the remaining ingredients until well blended. Cover with plastic wrap and chill 4 hours or more. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into hearts with a heart-shaped cookie cutter. On ungreased cookie sheets, bake the cookies 8 to 10 minutes, or until the edges just start to turn brown. Cool on a rack and store in an airtight container. Makes 4 dozen 3-inch hearts.