Pfeffernusse - A German Christmas Cookie
#1
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: East Oklahoma - pining for Massachusetts
Posts: 10,477
Pfeffernusse - A German Christmas Cookie
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup sweet cream
2 tablespoons honey
1/3 cup white syrup
1 teaspoon oil of anise
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon pepper, allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
4 cups flour
In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients together. Add in wet ingredients.
Roll into balls about the size or a quarter. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes.
Dust each cookie with powdered sugar.
(My mother was half German, and this was one of her favorite things to make at this time of year.)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup sweet cream
2 tablespoons honey
1/3 cup white syrup
1 teaspoon oil of anise
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon pepper, allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
4 cups flour
In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients together. Add in wet ingredients.
Roll into balls about the size or a quarter. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes.
Dust each cookie with powdered sugar.
(My mother was half German, and this was one of her favorite things to make at this time of year.)
#2
Super Member
Join Date: May 2017
Location: Sunny Florida
Posts: 4,434
Thanks for sharing this recipe. It sounds delicious.
I have a couple of questions about ingredients though. Is sweet cream also whipping cream or 1/2 and 1/2?
White syrup = karo perhaps?
Thanks again.
I have a couple of questions about ingredients though. Is sweet cream also whipping cream or 1/2 and 1/2?
White syrup = karo perhaps?
Thanks again.
#3
I LOVE these, but mine are smaller and very hard. They melt on the tongue. All the Mennonite women in my area made them and they were smaller than dimes. One place that still has them is the Mennonite Museum in Gossell, KS and they are the size of Pencil Erasers. I make mine more to the dime size.
I use my Great Grandmothers Recipe she brought from Russia when they arrived in the late 1800's. They're Mennonite that originated in Holland and called themselves Holland-Dutch. Molasses is in place of your honey, and no syrup or milk. It was the one cookie my son would eat. He's not enthused with sweets of any kind. We had pie or cheesecake for his birthdays. I haven't made them this year (2017) as they are labor intensive, and I'm just not up to it.
Do you also have the New Years Cake recipe? I can remember waking up at grandma's and the place smelled like a brewery from the yeast bubbling over night. Then she'd mix in some plumped raisins and fry those suckers. Oh How I loved Christmas time as a kid.
I use my Great Grandmothers Recipe she brought from Russia when they arrived in the late 1800's. They're Mennonite that originated in Holland and called themselves Holland-Dutch. Molasses is in place of your honey, and no syrup or milk. It was the one cookie my son would eat. He's not enthused with sweets of any kind. We had pie or cheesecake for his birthdays. I haven't made them this year (2017) as they are labor intensive, and I'm just not up to it.
Do you also have the New Years Cake recipe? I can remember waking up at grandma's and the place smelled like a brewery from the yeast bubbling over night. Then she'd mix in some plumped raisins and fry those suckers. Oh How I loved Christmas time as a kid.
#4
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: East Oklahoma - pining for Massachusetts
Posts: 10,477
Jim got me some cream today. He could not find anything called sweet cream so he got whipping cream. If I find it too thick I will cut it. Yes, I am using Karo for the white syrup. I think it's the same thing.
My mother used to have a little recipe book with only pfeffernusse. There were about 48 recipes. This was Mom's favorite. I have seen a lot of recipes for this cookie online.
Sorry, I have not heard of New Year's cake. Will have to look it up.
My mother used to have a little recipe book with only pfeffernusse. There were about 48 recipes. This was Mom's favorite. I have seen a lot of recipes for this cookie online.
Sorry, I have not heard of New Year's cake. Will have to look it up.
#7
Jackie, my Dad's family came from Southern Russia by way of the Netherlands and Germany. Your description of the New Years cake brought back a lot of memories. I have a couple of old ladies aide cook books. Shall check them for the recipe.
#8
Okay I have found three recipes for Portzelky (New Years Cookies) all in one Ladies Aid cookbook. They are all quite similar so I will share the one with the most comprehensive directions.
Portzelky (from the Zoar Church Ladies Aid Cookbook Langham Saskatchewan published circa 1960ish) Courtesy of Mrs. J.S. Thiessen--who I believe was my dad's first or second cousin.
2 pkgs dry yeast
2 cups warm water (half potato water)
5 tbsp. sugar
1 3/4 cups milk (scalded and cooled)
2 tsp. salt
4 eggs
1 lb. raisins
2 tsp. baking powder
Soften yeast in 2 cups water and 5 tbsp. sugar. Let stand for 15 minutes. Then mix in 2 cups flour to make a sponge. Let stand in a warm place. When light add all other ingredients and approx. 4 cups flour to make a stiff batter. Let rise until double and spoon out and fry in deep fat. Be careful not to break all the bubbles.
Portzelky (from the Zoar Church Ladies Aid Cookbook Langham Saskatchewan published circa 1960ish) Courtesy of Mrs. J.S. Thiessen--who I believe was my dad's first or second cousin.
2 pkgs dry yeast
2 cups warm water (half potato water)
5 tbsp. sugar
1 3/4 cups milk (scalded and cooled)
2 tsp. salt
4 eggs
1 lb. raisins
2 tsp. baking powder
Soften yeast in 2 cups water and 5 tbsp. sugar. Let stand for 15 minutes. Then mix in 2 cups flour to make a sponge. Let stand in a warm place. When light add all other ingredients and approx. 4 cups flour to make a stiff batter. Let rise until double and spoon out and fry in deep fat. Be careful not to break all the bubbles.
#10
Super Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: SW Iowa
Posts: 1,139
I have not had these cookies, although I am of German ancestry. I'm with you on anise flavor, also I don't like a strong clove taste either. My maternal great grandfather came from Germany to this country. He married an English woman, though. My paternal ancestors were English. The man I married had some native American blood in his ancestry. So my only child is quite a mixture.
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