German Peppernuts (Pfeffernusse)

Submitted by Kate S.

"Pfeffernusse are a traditional Christmas spice cookie that's very tiny. The tradition is carried on by Mennonites in the US. This recipe yields almost rock hard little nuggets. My mother remembers her grandmother placing one cookie at a time on a teaspoon, slightly dunking it down into her elegant china cup of tea, and waiting a moment until it softened. I grew up eating them by the handful--no dunking needed. When I was a kid, we would make gallons and they kept until February. They can be attractively bagged to make gifts."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 15mins
• Ingredients: 11
• Yields: 6 dozen

ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 3⁄4 cup brown sugar
• 3⁄4 cup sugar
• 3 1⁄4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1⁄2 teaspoon clove
• 1⁄2 teaspoon allspice
• 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1⁄4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1⁄4 cup honey

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Beat sugar with eggs for 15 minutes.
3. Sift dry ingredients together, and stir into egg-sugar mixture.
4. Mix in butter and honey and knead briefly.
5. 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.
6. Bake 10-15 minutes.
7. Cool and store in airtight container in cool place.

Reviews

[manderson]

I’ve been looking for hard peppernuts- the kind that you have to suck on so that you don’t break your teeth. This was close. I added a bit more flour and doubled the spices. They still felt a little soft after cooling but I returned them to the cooling oven and left them overnight. They are perfect this morning. Too hard to crunch without caution. ??. Thanks