Grossmutters Peppernuts Recipes

PEPPERNUTS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. In the large bowl, cream the butter with the sugar using an electric mixer. Add the egg and ground nuts. In another bowl, mix the flour with the baking powder, soda, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and nutmeg. Blend the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture until a stiff dough forms. Shape the dough into a ball. (At this point, you can wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it to develop the flavor, for up to a week). Cut off a portion of the dough at a time and roll between your hands and a lightly floured work surface to make slim, ropes about 1/2-inch thick. Place 4 or 5 ropes on an ungreased cookie sheet. Cut ropes into 1/2-inch pieces using a sharp, small knife. Separate the pieces. Bake for 8 minutes or until the cookies are lightly browned and dry. Remove from the oven; cool on the baking sheet.

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.