Pfeffernusse Recipes

GERMAN SPICE COOKIES (PFEFFERNUSSE)

Steps:

• Cookies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line three baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and spices. Set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter, brown sugar, and molasses on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture; beat until just combined. Pinch off a heaping teaspoon of dough, roll into a ball, and place on a prepared baking sheet. Repeat process with remaining dough, spacing balls 1 1/2 inches apart. (Dough can be frozen at this point, covered tightly with plastic wrap, up to 1 month.)
• Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies are golden and firm to the touch with slight cracking, about 15 minutes. Transfer sheets to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Glaze: Fit a rimmed baking sheet with a wire rack. In a medium bowl, whisk together confectioners' sugar, milk, and kirsch, if desired. Using a fork, dip each cookie in glaze to coat. Tap to remove excess glaze and place on wire rack to dry. Repeat with remaining cookies.
• To decorate: While the glaze is still wet, top cookies with a small pinch of peppercorns, if desired. Alternatively, let glaze dry completely before mixing together luster dust and kirsch with a small paintbrush. Lightly brush tops of cookies with luster dust mixture, if desired. Let dry before serving. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 weeks.

PFEFFERNUSSE (GERMAN PEPPER NUT COOKIES )

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, salt, pepper, aniseeds, cinnamon, baking soda, allspice, nutmeg and cloves.
• In a large bowl, using an electic mixer set on medium speed, beat together the butter, brown sugar and molasses until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
• Beat in the egg.
• Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the flour mixture.
• Cover and refrigerate for several hours.
• Position a rack in the middle of an oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.
• Butter 2 baking sheets, scoop up pieces of dough and roll between your palms into balls 1 1/2 inches in diameter.
• Place the balls on the cookie sheets spacing them about 2 inches apart.
• Bake until the cookies are golden brown on the bottom and firm to the touch, about 14 minutes.
• Transfer the baking sheets to racks and let the cookies cool slightly on the sheets.
• Place the confectioners' sugar in a sturdy paper bag, drop a few cookies into the bag, close the top securely, and shake gently to coat the warm cookies with the sugar.
• Transfer to racks and let cool completely.
• Repeat with the remaining cookies.
• Store in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

PFEFFERNUSSE

Steps:

• In a measuring jug, combine flour and baking soda. Set aside.
• In a saucepan, combine butter, honey, brown sugar, cloves, all-spice, cinnamon, and finely ground white pepper. Bring to a boil, then take off the heat and quickly stir flour into the mixture.
• Let the dough cool to room temperature, then form into a ball and wrap with plastic wrap. Let sit in a cool space for at least overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Divide dough into four parts and roll each into a 1/2-inch thick log. Cut each log into 8 pieces and roll them into a small ball. Place balls on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
• Bake in the lover half of the oven for 10-12 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and immediately transfer cookies to a cooling rack. Let cookies cool to room temperature.
• To make the glaze: In a medium bowl, beat egg white with 1 tablespoon of honey. Gradually sift in 1 cup powdered sugar, mixing until smooth. Dip cookies in the glaze then place on a rack set up over a baking sheet until coating hardens.

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.

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.

PFEFFERNüSSE (GERMAN SPICE COOKIES)

Steps:

• Melt the butter and the honey on low heat in a small pot on the stove. Stir constantly and remove the pot from the stove as soon as the honey and butter are melted. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, mix the egg and the sugar with the normal beater attachment of your electric mixer until they have a creamy consistency. Add the butter-honey mixture and mix again until everything is combined.
• In a separate bowl, combine flour, ground almonds, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, clove spice, and a pinch of salt. Use a spoon to stir everything around.
• Slowly add the dry ingredients to the large bowl with the wet ingredients while using your electric mixer on the lowest setting. The mixture will be slightly crumbly at first. Set your mixer aside and use your hands to form a ball of dough - make sure everything is well combined.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line your baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Use a small teaspoon to separate a bit of the dough and use the palm of your hands to form a small ball. The ball should have a diameter of just under 1-inch since it will get slightly bigger in the oven. Form balls of roughly the same size with all of the dough and place them on the parchment paper with some space in between.
• Bake the Pfeffernüsse in the oven for approximately 15 minutes. Ours were done at exactly 15 minutes, but since every oven is different your baking time might be slightly shorter or longer.
• Remove the cookies from the oven and transfer them to a cooling rack to fully cool.
• Once the Pfeffernüsse have cooled sufficiently, prepare the glaze by whisking powdered sugar and lemon juice or water together. You can either dip the top of the cookies into the glaze or brush the glaze onto the top of the cookies. Let the glaze harden. You can also leave some of the cookies without a glaze.

PFEFFERNUSSE COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar until well-combined, about 2-3 minutes on medium.
• Scrape down the bowl as needed as you continue.
• Mix in the molasses until well-combined, about 1-2 minutes on medium.
• Add the egg, and mix in until well-combined, about 1 minute on medium.
• Add the flour, baking soda, and spices.
• Stir in until combined. The dough will be a stiffer dough.
• Scoop by tablespoonfuls and place 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
• Bake for 7-10 minutes, or until the tops and edges are set.
• Cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet.
• Remove to a wire rack to cool to room temperature.
• Sprinkle the tops with powdered sugar before serving.

PEPPERNUTS COOKIES RECIPE (PFEFFERNüSSE COOKIES RECIPE)

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl (preferably a Kitchenaid stand mixing bowl), add the butter, brown sugar, white sugar, molasses, and cream and mix well.
• Add the eggs, salt, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, anise oil, baking soda and baking powder and mix well.
• Add one cup of flour at a time and mix until the flour is absorbed into the dough. You do not have to over mix it. Note that the dough gets very stiff and can easily burn out hand mixer motors. For this reason, you should use a heavy duty stand mixer. In either case, if your mixer is struggling, then stop using the mixer and mix in the rest of the flour by hand. It can be quite a workout!
• Put the bowl of dough into the refrigerator for 30 minutes and allow the dough to get a little stiffer.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. If you have a double oven, then preheat both ovens.
• Lay out aluminum foil for the baked cookies to cool on.
• Tape wax paper to the top of your table, counter, island, or other kitchen work area.
• Scoop out a lemon-sized amount of dough and roll it into a ball in your hands.
• Place the dough ball onto the wax paper and use your palm and fingers to roll it out into a thin rope of dough 1/4 inch in diameter. The key is to be consistent and make these all the same size so they will cook in the same amount of time. If the dough is sticking to the wax paper, then sprinkle a small amount of flour on the wax paper to prevent this.
• Use a knife to cut the rope into small nut sized pieces of dough and place them on a baking sheet where they are not touching and there is room for them to grow as they bake so that the baked cookies won't be touching each other.
• Bake at 375 degrees F for 8-12 minutes until they are a golden brown color. Check them at eight minutes and bake them longer if needed. Make sure that you do not bake them too long or the underside will burn.
• Allow the cookies to cool on the baking pans for 5 minutes, then transfer them to the aluminum foil. The cookies will be a little soft when they first come out of the oven but will become very crunchy as they cool.
• Repeat rolling the dough, cutting the dough, loading the baking sheets and baking the cookies until all of the dough is used. This is a fun activity to get your whole family involved in for baking these holiday cookies.
• After the cookies have completely cooled, store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 month. If the cookies are not quite crunchy, you can leave the lid off of the container for a few hours and they will get crunchy.

PFEFFERNUSSE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Combine dry ingredients and set aside.
• In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar together until light. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• Stir in dry ingredients 1/2 cup at a time. Add almonds, if desired.
• Roll into one inch balls and arrange 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 11 to 14 minutes.
• Cool and store in airtight containers for 3 days to mellow flavors.

PFEFFERNUSSE

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, salt, pepper, aniseeds, cinnamon, baking soda, allspice, nutmeg and cloves. In a large bowl, using an electic mixer set on medium speed, beat together the butter, brown sugar and molasses until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Beat in the egg. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the flour mixture. Cover and refrigerate for several hours. Position a rack in the middle of an oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 baking sheets, scoop up pieces of dough and roll between your palms into balls 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Place the balls on the cookie sheets spacing them about 2 inches apart. Bake until the cookies are golden brown on the bottom and firm to the touch, about 14 minutes. Transfer the baking sheets to racks and let the cookies cool slightly on the sheets. Place the confectioners' sugar in a sturdy paper bag, drop a few cookies into the bag, close the top securely, and shake gently to coat the warm cookies with the sugar. Transfer to racks and let cool completely. Repeat with the remaining cookies. Store in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.