Best German Pfeffernüsse Cookies Recipes

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 (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.

PFEFFERNüSSE (GERMAN "PEPPER-NUT" CHRISTMAS COOKIES)

Steps:

• Combine white and brown sugars in a saucepan with honey, water, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and cayenne pepper. Place over medium heat and whisk until the sugars dissolve and it just starts to simmer, 1 to 2 minutes. Immediately remove from the heat and let cool for 4 to 5 minutes.
• Add salt, baking soda, heavy cream, and egg and whisk until thoroughly combined. Add flour and stir together with a wooden spoon until everything comes together as a dough.
• Transfer dough to a piece of plastic wrap. Press into a ball and wrap tightly. Place in the refrigerator and let rest for 1 to 2 days.
• When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Remove dough from the refrigerator and scoop into rounded teaspoons. Roll each one into a smooth ball if desired, and place on a prepared baking sheet.
• Bake in the center of the preheated oven until cookies are perfectly dome-shaped with light golden brown bottoms, 9 to 10 minutes; don't overbake. Let cool on the pan all the way down to room temperature, 20 to 30 minutes.
• While the cookies are cooling, repeat Steps 5 and 6 to shape and bake the remaining cookies.
• Make icing by placing powdered sugar in a bowl. Stir in lemon juice, a few teaspoons at a time, until icing is very thick, but still slightly runny.
• Dip the top of each cooled cookie into the icing. Let it drip, then flip it over and place on a wire rack set over a piece of parchment paper and let harden.

GERMAN SPICE COOKIES (PFEFFERNÜSSE)

Steps:

• 1. Put honey, molasses, and butter into a small pot and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until hot, 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Add eggs and whisk to combine. Put flour, half the lemon peel, almonds, cinnamon, pepper, cloves, cardamom, and baking powder into a large bowl and stir to combine. Add honey mixture and beat with a wooden spoon until well combined, to form a dough. Cover surface of dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. 2. Preheat oven to 350°. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Lightly oil your palms with some of the oil. Form dough into 36 balls, each about 1" wide (the dough will be very sticky, so keep your hands lightly oiled while working). Divide dough balls between baking sheets, keeping them spaced 1" apart. Bake until slightly cracked on top and just firm to the touch, about 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool slightly. 3. Meanwhile, whisk together confectioners' sugar, rum, and 5 tsp. hot water to make a smooth glaze. While cookies are still warm, use a pastry brush to coat each one with a layer of glaze. While the surfaces of the cookies are still moist with glaze, garnish each top with pieces of the remaining lemon peel. Set cookies aside to let cool completely. Eat right away or store in an airtight container, layered between sheets of waxed paper, for up to one week.

GERMAN PFEFFERNÜSSE (“PEPPER NUTS”) COOKIES

Steps:

• 1. In a heavy bottomed, nonreactive, 1 to 1-1/2 quart pot, combine the molasses, honey, and butter. Place the pot over low heat, stirring often until the butter has melted, all the ingredients are completely combined, and the mixture is creamy. Do not boil. Remove the pot from the heat, pour the mixture into a large bowl, and set aside and allow the mixture to cool to room temperature. Stir in the beaten eggs and the anise extract. 2. While the mixture is cooling, sift together the flour, white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, cardamom, allspice, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, black pepper, and salt in a separate bowl. When the molasses mixture has reached room temperature, stir in the beaten eggs and the anise extract. With a large wooden spoon, gradually stir in the sifted dry ingredients until everything is thoroughly combined (the dough will be a stiff dough by this point). Chill the dough in the refrigerator for a minimum of 2 hours. 3. After the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease several baking sheets. Roll the dough into small balls (about 1/2-inch in diameter). Place the balls on the greased baking sheets, spacing them at least 1 inch apart, as they will spread slightly. 4. Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes, until the cookies have lost their shiny look and are slightly firm to the touch (but still soft). The cookies may have some small cr

GERMAN PFEFFERNUSSE COOKIES - GLUTEN FREE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 190°C Line baking trays with greaseproof or baking paper.
• Mix all ingredients in an electric mixer on a medium speed, until roughly mixed. Do not overbeat.
• Using a spatula then,scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix until well combined.
• Leaving the mixture in the bowl, knead with your hands (gloved if you wish!) until all of the ingredients are well mixed.
• Roll mixture into balls, about the size of walnuts.
• Place on baking sheets about 1/2 inch/ 1 cm apart. Bake for about 10 minutes at 190°C.
• Allow the biscuits to cool completely on the trays. Store in an airtight container.

PFEFFERNUSSE (GERMAN SPICE COOKIES)

Steps:

• To make the spiced sugar:
• Sift all ingredients together into a large bowl; set aside.
• To make the cookies:
• Sift together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, ginger, nutmeg, salt, allspice, and pepper into a large bowl; set aside.
• Place the almonds in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade attachment and process until finely ground, about 25 to 30 seconds. Add the almonds to the flour mixture and stir to combine; set aside.
• Place the butter, lemon zest, and orange zest in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until fluffy and combined, about 1 minute. Add the brown sugar and beat until incorporated and lightened in color, about 1 minute. Add the egg and beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds more. Add the honey and candied lemon or orange peel (or mixture thereof) and beat until just incorporated, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle with a rubber spatula.
• With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture in three additions, mixing until just combined, about 1 1/2 minutes total. (Do not overmix.) Cover and refrigerate the dough until firm, at least 1 hour.
• Heat the oven to 350°F and arrange 2 racks to divide the oven into thirds. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
• Roll the chilled dough into 24 (3/4-inch) balls and space them 1 1/2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake the cookies for 8 minutes, then rotate the sheets from front to back and top to bottom. Continue baking until the cookies are very lightly browned around the edges, about 5 to 6 minutes more. (The tops will be soft, but they will firm up as the cookies stand.) Transfer the baking sheets to 2 wire racks and let the cookies sit until cool enough to handle but still warm, about 3 minutes.
• Drop the warm cookies into the spiced sugar, making sure to coat them all over, then shake off any excess sugar and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Repeat baking

GERMAN PFEFFERNüSSE COOKIES

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, combine butter, molasses, and honey over medium heat. Once the butter has melted, remove from heat and let cool.
• Add egg and anise extract to butter mixture. Stir and set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, cardamom, allspice, nutmeg, cloves, ground pepper, ground ginger, and salt.
• Add dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir until well combined. Cover dough with plastic wrap and let cool in a fridge for 2-3 hours.
• Once the dough has cooled, preheat oven to 325 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Roll cookie dough into 1" balls and place on cookie sheet. Bake for 12-13 minutes or until cooked through.
• Once cookies have cooled, roll in powdered sugar.