Mennonite Black Pepper Cookies Recipes

PEPPERNUTS (PFEFFERNUSSE COOKIES)

Steps:

• In the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. About 3 minutes.
• Add the eggs, anise extract, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, white pepper, and clove or cardamom into the bowl and mix until everything is incorporated.
• Add the flour into the dough and mix just until it is incorporated. You do not want to mix for a long time, just until the flour is incorporated in.
• Press the dough out to about 1" thick and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 days.
• Preheat the oven to 350F (177C). Divide your dough into 16 pieces. Press 1 piece of dough into a ball and roll it out between your hands and a clean work surface to form a thin rope, about 1/4" thick. Use a sharp knife (or I like to use a bench scraper) to cut out tiny nut size pieces of dough. Place on a baking sheet. You can completely fill your sheet in a single layer, but you will need to bake these in several batches to get them all baked. It typically works out to be cutting out the next sheet pan of cookies while the one before it bakes.
• Bake at 350F (177C) for 10-14 minutes, until a dark golden brown. Check the cookies at 10 minutes and bake longer if needed. The cookies will be slightly soft when they first come out of the oven but will become very crispy as the cool. Store the completely cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 month.

GERMAN PEPPERNUTS (PFEFFERNUSSE)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Beat sugar with eggs for 15 minutes.
• Sift dry ingredients together, and stir into egg-sugar mixture.
• Mix in butter and honey and knead briefly.
• Roll dough into 1/2-inch-diameter snakes. Cut into 1/2-inch segments with floured paring knife. Arrange 1 inch apart on greased cookie sheet.
• Bake 10-15 minutes.
• Cool and store in airtight container in cool place.

PFEFFERNUSSE COOKIES

Steps:

• Stir together the molasses, honey, shortening, and margarine in a saucepan over medium heat; cook and stir until creamy. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Stir in the eggs.
• Combine the flour, white sugar, brown sugar, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, anise, cinnamon, baking soda, pepper, and salt in a large bowl. Add the molasses mixture and stir until thoroughly combines. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Roll the dough into acorn-sized balls. Arrange on baking sheets, spacing at least 1 inch apart.
• Bake in preheated oven 10 to 15 minutes. Move to a rack to cool. Dust cooled cookies with confectioners' sugar.

BLACK PEPPER BUTTER COOKIES

Steps:

• Mix all ingredients (except for the extra sugar for dipping the glass) together well using a heavy duty mixer.
• Roll into 1/2 inch size balls-you will need three large ungreased cookie sheets, 16 balls per sheet.
• Use the flat base of a drinking glass that has been dipped into sugar to flatten each dough ball on the cookie sheets.
• Bake in a preheated 350 F (or 180 C) oven for 8-11 minutes or until lighly browned on the edges- do not overbake.
• Remove to wire racks to cool.