I have a Pennsylvania dutch recipe for Pfeffernusse that dates back to at least 1941.  Check your message box and see if it's something you can use.

Here is an IMAGE LINK and I have also seen them packed into a tray like tiny pencil thin dinner rolls and then broken apart (looking more like nuts) after baking.  "Buttons" are rolled or dunked in powder sugar glaze.  I can't ever remember tasting black or white (yuck) pepper in them.  I think they come closer to ginger cookies in taste and if enough ginger is used, they are spicy as in hot like pepper spicy.  Rye flour.   I believe the same dough would be good for making gingerbread houses.  

Did you run a TFL site search? 

Hi MiniOven, Happy Thanksgiving!

I did do a TFL search.  Found a cake recipe.  Google search gave me wide range.  In looking at the image file I found a couple of details.  Danish style uses black pepper.  Your file included the 'buttons' which is what my friend Bertha made.  They do have pepper in them and it is quite nice.  Flournwater sent me a recipe from an early cook book. His directions instruct to let the cut cookies cure over night, flip them over, add a drop of fruit juice and bake leaving cookies upside down on the baking sheet.

I love TFL and the range of info that comes back.

Thanks so much.

Happy Thanksgiving, RonRay!  Thanks for the link to Kristen and her great story and photos for pfeffernusse cookies.  I have decided to make a couple recipes for comparison.  I really don't need much of an excuse to blend the spices and bake up a batch of tastiness.  Thanks so much for your help.  You have played apart in making one WWII vet very happy.  My friend, Jack, can't wait for these to be done.  Gotta love all the TFLers! and the passion shared here.

Thanks, whosinthekitchen~ Lisa

Hey Flournwater,

Arranging ingredients for the pfeffernusse project I noticed there is no butter listed in the Pennsylvania Dutch recipe you shared with me.

Is it true, there is NO Butter in this cookie?  Is that why I hear they are so hard?  Please advise.

whosinthekitchen~Lisa

One recipe makes "nuts"  containing 220g flour, 220g sugar, 30 g candy citron, 1 knife point each pepper & cloves, with 2 small eggs.  Roll dough into 1 cm thick coils and cut into small pieces and set on end together in a small greased pan.  Bake until done.  Light color.  Keep a long, long time and take time to soften.

The second recipe makes also "nuts" containing 250g honey, knife point each cinnamon, cloves, cardamon, pepper, lemon and orange peel, 350g brown sugar, 2 eggs, 600g rye flour, 8g ammonium bicarbonate.   Mix dough with half the flour amount and let stand in a warm place 12 hours to ferment.  Work in the rest of the flour and 1 tablespoon Rum.  Form like the first recipe baking until just done.  

I have not made either recipe but they are authentic Austrian.  Funny, no ginger or glazing -- must be an old recipe.  German Pfeffernüße looks more like buttons and remind me of lebkuchen.  I see plenty of room for tweaking depending on your individual tastes.  I have been given these type of "nuts" in a block (looks similar to a honeycomb) and had to break them apart after letting them sit in a tin with peeled apple.   I've never had to bake them myself.  I would guess with a moderate oven in the middle.  

Mini

Hi MiniOven,

I have a similar recipe from a woman I worked with back in the 80's in Wichita Ks. that sounds like your buttons.

This is the first mention of amonium bicarbonate in any of hte recipes I have encountered.  Oddly enough, I have some in the cubboard! As these are to be crispy as in hard . .  . it is good to consider.

No butter in these either?  This research project willhave my house smelling yummy for days.  I now have three recipes that are must tries.  I have added your suggestions to my list of details to compare.  Thanks so much!

for forming sets of buttons!  thanks.

Made recipe number 1 today.  Smelled right.  Dough was dark from the molasses.  Some photos show a lighter dough.

Rolled in powder sugar (twice) made them look right for what Jack has asked for.  Packed in a tin in gentle layers and sealed for a few days before the taste test.

Thanks for all your help.  I have a pitiful blog.... just don't post often enough....  but I have posted this first effort with a photo of the finished cookie.  More to come as I prepare another recipe or two.  Thanks again.  www.lisaslovinloaves.blogspot.com

I keep thinking Hasenpfeffer when I read Pfeffernusse.

I blame Bugs Bunny's, "Haaaaaaaaaasenpfeffer?!" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDe8fTgVUZw)

If Hasenpfeffer is the entrée and Pfeffernusse the dessert, what are the other parts of this meal?

maybe you find something there. If you need help with translation, please holler.

http://www.creative-sugar-studio.de/rezepte2.htm#Pfeffernüsschen

Anna

Thanks for taking a look at the photo.  I baked 'em up and have them in a tin to 'cure'. However, they are not hard! They have a great spicy flavor, and a soft texture.  Must be the butter.  Flournwater sent a recipe from 1939 that calls for no butter. I think that one may be the next effort.  I will let Jack have a go at these first.  Love your water color collection on your art site.  I like the "surf in the iris", beautiful!

are too Funny!  Actually, when my firend Jack first called about cookies, he did say "hasenpfeffer".  Good thing I knew that was rabbit stew!

Love the humor.

Here's a recipe from a book published in 1989.

Source. Parnell, Helga, Robert L. Wolfe, and Diane Wolfe. Cooking the German Way. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1988. 63+. Print.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/7435218/The-Oktoberfest-Cookbook#outer_page_33

This one has no butter and says you can use almonds, hazenluts, or walnuts.

Thanks for the recipe.  Several directions state to seal them to cure or mellow.  But none so far have stated a desireable length of time.  Do you have any idea how long they should stay sealed?  

And about the cut of apple to be added in the seal..... Seems this would add moisture and these are supposed to be really hard little cookies.

Thanks a heap for your help.

whosinthekitchen~ Lisa

you sent has the entire cookbook loaded online!  I scrolled through and am delighted to have it as a resource for many recipes.  I have been making brohcen since 1980 after getting the recipe while visiting in Germany.  Then there is Bee Sting Cake!  And the wonderfully simple cabbage soup.  

I will do the directions with the apple slice.  I love your line of advice: " . . . I just do as I'm told and ask no questions, else my result is usually a disaster."

Looks like I have some bakin' to do.  Thanks so much.

does not call for butter :

http://www.oetker.de/oetker/rezepte/backen/plaetzchen/pfeffernuesse.html

If translation help needed, please holler.

Anna

Great photo; both funny and sic!

Love the bunny~ so pretty.

The recipe I made on Friday resulted in a 'soft' cookie due to the butter.

The difference I note in recipe w/o butter is that it calls for 5 eggs.  Will be stirring that one up later today, I hope.  Got the camera battery charged in hopes of posting some photos toshare with all who have assisted me in my hunt.

for the next couple of tries.  First batch (with butter) will be delivered today for Jack to critique.  He willbe delighted to know more will be on the way!  He is not a computer octogenarian~ will have to have him over to  see all hte effort by so many around the globe who have had a hand in his request.  Thanks!  

PS: Think I will have to get a photo fo Jack with his Pfeffernusse to share as well.....  :)

directing cookies to  sit overnight and have a drop of rum~

Thanks a heap! 

at batch #1 at  http://lisaslovinloaves.blogspot.com

My humble blog of kitchen antics doesn't get the attention it needs. But I do throw in a post from time to time.

Would love for it to be more.  Still learning!

I saw this thread come by, saw the keyword "pfeffernusse"  (did not read the entire thread yet) but do want to make you aware of my latest blogpost here on TFL, covering..... pepernoten, made with a very traditional recipe; check it out!

Freerk

I have a cookbook that was passed to me from my grandmother called "Recipes of the Black Sea Germans" which contains not ONE but FOUR completely different Pfeffernusse recipes.  I know that my grandmother always made a recipe that contained fresh brewed coffee and a ton of flour!  I have searched the internet high and low and have never been able to find the traditional recipes that included black coffee.  So if your other recipes do not work out as planned or you would just like one to keep in the books for later, I will be posting my granmother's Pfeffernusse recipe to my blog in the next week, www.keepingupwithkitchenmom.blogspot.com.  And since she is German,  I will eventually be posting many more of her German favorites.  

Hope you find something that works out!  

I thought the curing/mellowing was due to bakers ammonia used in the recipe? 

This is from Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery (1966) and it sounds close to the Pfeffernusse I remember from being a child, which never contained fruit or nuts:

3 cups sifted all-purpose flour; 3/4 tsp each of salt, baking powder, baking soda, ground allspice, mace, and cardamom; 1/4 tsp black pepper; 1/8 tsp ground aniseed

1 cup honey; 3 Tbsp shortening; 1 egg; Frosting

Sift dry ingredients.  Heat honey (do not boil). Add shortening.  Cool.  Beat in egg. Stir in dry ingredients just until blended.  Let dough stand for 10 minutes to stiffen enough to handle easily.  Shape into 1-inch balls.  Place on lightly greased cookie sheets.  Bake in preheated moderate oven (350 F) for 13 to 15 mins.  Cool; frost.  Store airtight for a week to ripen.  Makes 5 dozen.

Frosting:  Combine 1 egg white 2 tsp honey, and 1/4 tsp ground aniseed.  Gradually add 1-1/2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar beating until smooth.  Put 12 to 14 cookies in a bowl, add 2 Tbsps frosting, and stir to frost all sides of cookies.  Lift out with a fork onto rack.  Repeat until all are frosted.

Thanks!  I should not be surprised there are so many versions!

This is our version--it is from before WWII and may even be before WWI. It's my grandmother's and she was Danish:

Pfeffernüsse
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ingredients:

5 eggs
2 cups brown sugar
1 grated lemon rind
3 tablespoons black coffee
6 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon mace
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cardamom
1 cup ground almonds (abt 1/3lb whole nuts)
1/2 cup chopped citron/candied peel
frosting
2 egg whites
few drops anise extract
Powdered sugar

Directions:

Sift together flour, spices, and powder. Beat eggs until thick--adding sugar a little at a time. Then add lemon rind. Add the flour mixture alternating with coffee (ending with coffee). Then add citron and nuts. Let dough chill for several hours. Shape dough into 3/4" size pieces. REALLY sticky (flour or grease hands). Place on cookie sheets and let sit out overnight to dry.
Preheat oven to 300°F.

Before baking pat their bottoms with a bit of high alchohol content brandy/rum/vodka. Bake at 300° for 20 minutes. Remove cookies from rack and dip in egg white that has the anise extract added, then roll in sugar. Repeat rolling in sugar.

Then they sit a week or two or more in an airtight container. So, we made these at the beginning of December.

HI Flmyhntr,

Your recipe has ALL the variations I have run into in one recipe...

In my collection, I would like to crdit the source of each recipe.  Shall I use flmyhntr's Danish Grandmother or may I ask her name?  I want to consolidate the collection of pfeffernuse recipes, with some photos .  This project has recieved a great deal of input and interest.  I want to honor efforts by all participants in a creative/online/resource holiday way.

Thanks,

whosinthekitchen~ Lisa

I have been wondering this this holiday season.

I have compared a few lebkuchen recipes online to the various pfeffernusse recipes I collected and see only similarities....

Hanseta may be able to be more specific on differencess.  Ingredients are quite similar, procedure as well.  I defer to hanseta on specifics for your question.

Happy New Year!

Lisa

I appreciate that knowledge

My husbands grandmother was a first generation American.  Her mother and father came here and settled in Texas.  She made Pfeffernuse (peppernuts) and they were a family favorite.  The recipe was her grandmothers so it is the true German recipe.  she told me once that any Pfeffernuse recipe that has oil or butter in it is not really "German".  She was very emphatic and really felt this addition was a travesty and ruined the recipe.  Lol!  German women are serious about their cooking.  She also commented that the cookies with butter were not Pfeffernuse but were actually pepparkakor or gingersnaps.   She did admit that spices were a matter of taste...but the basic hard cookie recipe should not be tampered with.  The cookies she made could be put in a sealed container and literally last forever.  When my husband was in the service and stationed overseas, the Pfeffernuse were mailed to him on a regular basis by his grandmother and made it there tasting fresh and intact. 

When looking at pepparkakor recipes, most of them are indeed like some of the recipes posted here...I would think that anything with molasses is most definitely Swedish instead of German, and the no oil or butter is a big determinant.

This is the recipe she used: 5 eggs, 2 C. sugar, 2 T Cinnamon, 1 1/2 tsp. ground cloves, 1 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp soda, 3 1/2 C. flour, 1 C. chopped pecans.  Beat eggs well, add sugar and spices and beat until light and fluff.  Add other ingredients, except for pecans and beat well.  Stir in pecans and drop by tsp. on greased and floured cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees until light brown.  Test by touching with finger...should not leave indentation. (I actually like them with a little more punch and will up the cloves and black pepper a little).  Love that hot spicy sweet crunchy cookie thing.) 

Grandma Bueche did tell me that the pecans were not always available when she was younger so were often left out.   My family likes them with lots of pecans...and sometimes I will even top with a pecan half  before baking.  I have really enjoyed this thread.  Thanks everyone for posting.  Interesting to see all the different recipes.