Pfeffernusse recipe

Pfeffernüsse (also known as peppernuts) are a popular traditional Christmas cookie with different iterations found throughout Germany, The Netherlands, and Denmark. They’re spicy, bite-size cookies that soften and develop flavor as they age. But we’re no good at waiting when it comes to cookies; we wanted to tenderize this traditionally very lean dough by incorporating a little butter so that we could enjoy Pfeffernüsse when we made them. Despite their name, peppernuts don’t call for nuts, but we found that adding a small amount of ground almonds helped tenderize the dough further without adding too much richness. Blooming the spices in the hot butter boosted both their flavor and their heat, making the cookies live up to their peppernut name. Candied orange peel perfumed the cookies, and its tang complemented the spices. Instead of the more traditional and time-consuming method of rolling each individual cookie into small balls, we rolled the dough into logs and cut them into pieces before baking and tossing in confectioners’ sugar.