Pfeffernüsse

Sadly, Stella D'oro and its pfeffernusse cookies are long one, but this recipe will surely satisfy your crave!

I have always loved these German cookies. In case you're curious, pfeffernüsse translates to pepper nuts in English.

When I was little my grandmother on my dad's side, (as opposed to Nana on my mom's side) used to buy the Stella D'oro brand at the holidays. They were yummy spicy little button cookies with a hard-ish sugar shell. Neither my mom nor Nana ever made them from scratch.

Powdered sugar coated pfeffernusse.

When I had my own kitchen I knew they would become part of my Christmas cookie repertoire. I found a recipe in The Joy of Cooking and over the years tweaked it until it tasted the way I remember.

There was some additional tweaking thanks to my brother-in-law Will who sent several years studying in Germany and provided me with welcome feedback on how they differed from the authentic ones.

The recipe that I usually make eliminated the hard sugar coating and uses powdered sugar.

THE RECIPE:

2 sticks (1 cup) butter

1/3c sugar

1/2c raisin paste (see notes)

1/3c Sam Adams Triple Bock (see notes)

1/2c molasses

1 egg

1t anise seed crushed

1t cardamon crushed

1t cinnamon

1t nutmeg

1/2t ground clove

1/2t ginger

1/2t ground black pepper

1/4t salt

1/8t baking soda

1/4t baking powder

3c flour

Powdered sugar for dusting cookies

Preheat oven to 350º

Combine all ingredients except the flour and cream together until smooth and well mixed.

Gradually add flour and knead or process with a dough hook until dough is well formed.

This dough has a lot of sugary sticky stuff and is sticky to handle. It's much nicer is you refrigerate it overnight and work with it cold.

After dusting your surface and your hands with flour take small pieces of dough and roll into 1" balls. Or, you can roll the dough into a 3/4' thick log and slice it into 3/4" rounds and then shape into balls.

Bake on cookie sheet for 10 - 15 minutes. Cookies will spread and flatten a bit, you know you got it right if they are D shaped in cross section.

Dust with powdered sugar when the cookies are still warm. Then when serving them I shake them in a bag of powdered sugar so they're nice and white.

If you prefer the hard glaze, you can mix 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

and 3-4 tablespoons hot water and dip each cookie top and set out to harden. Note about the glaze: less water will result in a thicker & whiter glaze.

Store in air tight container. Makes about 9 dozen cookies.

Notes:

You can buy raisin paste or you can make it from scratch -- which is easier than you think -- assuming you have raisins in the house.

1. Put a cup of raisins in a sauce pan and just cover with water.

2. Bring to a boil and simmer covered until the raisins are really tender. Drain off any remaining water and process in a food processor or blender.

Back in the mid 90s, Sam Adams produced a triple bock limited edition beer. We managed to get our hands on a case or two and one year I added some to the recipe. It was wonderful and I rationed the triple bock from then on so that I'd have some for these cookies. (Sam doesn't make it anymore).

Once the triple bock was depleted, my husband John suggested a sweet imperial stout. It worked well after I cooked it down to eliminate the carbonation and thicken it. You want 3 ounces for the recipe so start with 6 and reduce by half. And DON'T wast the other half can, put it in a snifter and enjoy it while you're baking!