Recipe for Pfeffernusse (Also known as Peppernuts)

Christmas decorations, music, and food – everything just makes me so happy! But the one thing that takes me back to my childhood each year is my Grandma’s Pfeffernusse Recipe. She always called these little cookies Peppernuts. Whether you call them Pfeffernusse or Peppernuts, one thing is for sure – they are DELICIOUS!

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pfeffernusse (or peppernuts) Recipe

Ingredients:

heat until melted –

• 2 cups molasses
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 cups white syrup (corn syrup)
• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter
• 1 pound lard

combine in a bowl –

• 5 pounds bread flour
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups chopped walnuts
• 3/4 tsp anise oil
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 TBSP baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp clove
• 1 tsp AND 1 TBSP salt
• juice from one lemon

Directions:

24 hours prior to baking –

1. Heat molasses, sugars, syrup, lard and butter in a large pot until melted.
2. While that heats, combine dry ingredients in a very large bowl.
3. In a small bowl, beat the eggs, anise & lemon juice.
4. Add in the melted mixture to the dry ingredients.
5. Once the melted mixture has cooled a bit (so as not to cook the eggs), add in the egg, anise & lemon juice mixture.
6. Stir until combined.
7. Cover the dough and refrigerate for 24-36 hours.

day of baking –

1. On a pastry mat, roll out “snakes” of dough until they are about half an inch in diameter.
2. Place the “snakes” on a cutting board and slice them about 1/4″ thick.
3. Drop the pieces on a non-stick baking sheet.
4. Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes.
5. Serve and enjoy or store extras in an air-tight container for about a month.

*NOTE: This recipe makes a TON of little cookies. You do not have to make them all in one sitting. Be prepared to share with friends/family!

Did you know National Pfeffernusse Day is December 23, annually?!

Peppernuts were (are?) a Kansas holiday baking tradition, which explains where my Grandma got her recipe. However, these tiny cookies packing BIG flavor were originally baked in European kitchens. Germans called them pfeffernusse, the Dutch knew them as pepernoten, and the Danes served them as pebernødder. According to information at the Harvey County Historical Museum in Newton, “baking peppernuts became a tradition among Mennonites living in Russia, and when they immigrated to Kansas in the 1870s, they brought their recipes with them.” I don’t know, though, if my Grandma’s Pfeffernusse recipe came from Russian immigrants or her German ancestors. Either way, she grew up making these cookie nuggets each year because the recipe makes more than enough for all the yuletide carolers.

The peppernut dates back to when the Dutch East India Company got all kinds of spices from the Dutch East Indies. For the sake of convenience, pepper was therefore a collective name for everything (including cinnamon and nutmeg) that came from the East. In addition to herbs, nuts were also often transported. And the shape of the peppernut is a bit like that of almonds or other nuts. But another similarity is in the way you eat real nuts – it is simply impossible to take only one, you’ll always grab a few at a time!