Behold the Peppernut!
I have a very old recipe that came from my paternal great-grandmother for "Peppernuts." The German word for that is "Pfeffernusse" It's a kind of little cookie that is very hard, sweet and spicy. My family recipe is also simple and it would have been something that almost anyone could have afforded to make back then. Great-Grandmother had a wood burning cook stove with a "reservoir" on the side, which was a steel box they would fill with water so they could have hot water available. At Christmastime she kept that full of peppernuts for the children to enjoy.
The thing to do is make the peppernuts a few weeks before you plan to eat them, because you want them to become very stale and hard. They do not taste stale, however. They are good. I always say when I eat one, it's nothing special, but I can't stop eating them!
I decided I wanted to make some this year, but the original recipe calls for lard and also just white flour. Today I made a batch (actually half of a batch), left out the added fat and used whole wheat flour. They turned out just fine and are very tasty! Of course, they aren't dried out yet, but if the weather cooperates, they should be hard by Christmas Day.
Here are some pictures of the progression and I'll leave the recipe I used at the end.
Here's the dough in the bowl.
You make "ropes" from the dough like this:
Then, using a pair of scissors, cup the ropes into small pieces and arrange then on a baking sheet.
Bake at 400 F for 10 to 12 minutes:
When they are done, dump them into a brown paper bag. When they are cool, close the top and let them stay in the bag until you are ready to use them. They will get dry and hard and yummy.
Peppernuts!
Ingredients:
3 cups water
1 Tablespoon yeast (or one little package)
1 cup molasses
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
about 3 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
Dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water. Add enough whole wheat flour to make the mixture the consistency of thick gravy. Add molasses, sugar and spices. Stir well. Start adding more flour, gradually, and stirring until it is like stiff bread dough. Do all of this in a large bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and every time you notice it has doubled in bulk, punch it down and re-cover. After at least 36 hours, and up to 48, it is time to bake the Peppernuts
Pre-heat the oven to 400F. I used silicone mats on my baking sheets. That works very well. You could use parchment paper, if you like. Roll the dough, a handful at a time into a rope and snip off pieces with a pair of scissors and arrange them on a baking sheet.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, then dump them into a brown paper bag. You don't want them to stay moist, so if you don't have a bag, maybe you could dump them onto a cloth and when they are cool, cover them with the cloth. In any case, I wait until they are all cool, close the bag and let them sit for a number of days until they are hard and crunchy.
This is half the recipe that we've always made, but since I was experimenting with changing the recipe by taking out the fat and adding only whole wheat flour, I didn't want to take a chance of wasting so much.
I did use white flour to prevent sticking when I was rolling them out.
I hope you enjoy these special little cookies as much as we do. My aunt used to make these and send them to my uncles that served in the Second World War when they were overseas.
