Pfeffernüssen Recipes

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.

TRADITIONAL PFEFFERNEUSSE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In a medium bowl, cream together the shortening and brown sugar until smooth. Mix in molasses, anise oil, and egg. Dissolve baking soda in hot water, and stir into the mixture. Combine the flour, salt, cinnamon, ginger and white pepper; blend into the molasses mixture until uniform. Knead for a minute until easy to work with. Shape dough into 1 inch balls, and place 1 inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.
• Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until slightly browned on the bottom. Do not over bake, or they will be very hard. Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature.

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

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.

PFEFFERNUESSE COOKIES

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, combine molasses, honey, butter and shortening. Cook and stir over medium heat until melted. Remove from heat; cool to room temperature. Stir in eggs and extract., Combine flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves, pepper and salt. Gradually add molasses mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight., Preheat oven to 325°. Roll dough into 1-in. balls. Place 1 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove cookies to wire racks. Roll warm cookies in confectioners' sugar. Cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

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

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.

PFEFFERNUESSE IV

Steps:

• In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and allspice. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine molasses and butter. Heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter is melted. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. When the mixture has cooled, beat in the eggs. Blend the molasses mixture into the dry ingredients until evenly mixed. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 to 4 hours.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place them 2 inches apart onto the cookie sheets.
• Bake for 12 to 14 minutes in the preheated oven, or until firm. While cookies are still warm, toss them in a bag with confectioners' sugar and toss to coat. When cool, toss with sugar again.

PFEFFERNüSSEN

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the confectioners' sugar in a brown paper bag.
• In a bowl, combine flour, pepper, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves, and baking soda.
• Place butter, brown sugar, and molasses in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat 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 tablespoons of dough; roll into 1 1/4-inch balls. Arrange balls 1 1/2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. (Dough can be frozen at this point, covered tightly with plastic wrap, up to 1 month.)
• Bake until golden and firm to the touch with slight cracking, about 15 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Transfer sheets to a wire rack to cool slightly, about 10 minutes. Working in batches, place cookies in paper bag; shake until well coated. Let cool completely on wire rack. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

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.