Peppernuts

Peppernuts are a traditional German Christmas cookie. They are small, often fairly hard, and contain no nuts. Most of the recipies I’ve seen make huge batches that take all day to make and fill several ice cream pails full of cookies. I made a small batch today. It took about 90 minutes from start to finish. Here is my recipe:

1/2 lb Honey
1/2 lb Sugar
1/4 lb Butter
1 lb Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Cardamom
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Cloves
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 egg (Yes, I divided an egg in half for this small batch)
1/4 c milk.

Melt butter, sugar, and honey in a double boiler. Add egg. Add milk. Add dry ingredients. Chill the dough and let the flour hydrate for a bit. Roll out the dough into small logs. (3/4″ to 1″ diameter) Chill the logs. Slice approx 1/4″ to 3/8″ thick. Spread out on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 until done. Approx 10 to 12 minutes depending on size of peppernuts.

This recipe filled three yogurt containers. (1 x 1kg, 2 x 750g)