Cardamom Peppernuts

Traditional European Christmas cookie. Eat-em-by-the-handful. Bagged attractively they make nice gifts. But be sure to make enough for the family. They keep well in a cool place. Make an ice-cream bucketful of each kind, and you can enjoy them well into February.

• Ready In: 1 hr 10 mins
• Yields: 6 dozen

Ingredients

• 3⁄4 lb butter
• 1 1⁄4 cups sugar
• 1  teaspoon vanilla or 2  teaspoons lemon juice
• 1⁄2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1  teaspoon cardamom
• 6  cups  sifted flour
• 1⁄2 cup milk

Directions

1. Cream butter and sugar. Stir in vanilla or lemon juice.
2. Sift together flour, cream of tartar, and cardamom.
3. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk, stirring well.
4. Roll dough into snakes about the diameter of a dime, and freeze snakes on wax paper (They can remain in the freezer for several days, and you can bake cookies in batches when you have time.).
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350.
6. Take one or two snakes out of the freezer at a time, and cut into 1/4-inch sections.
7. Arrange on greased cookie sheet, and bake 10-12 minutes, until lightly brown.
8. Cool and store in airtight container in a cool place.