Pfeffer...what!?

Christmas is a pretty big deal with my side/my mom's side of the family. Some of my favorite and probably earliest memories of childhood are getting all dressed up on Christmas Eve and going to Aunt Betty's house. Here are a few of the highlights of Aunt Betty's house:

- It was a huge house on Summit Avenue in St. Paul. My cousins, sisters and I thought we really made a discovery when we found the servant's stairwell. After this discovery our tradition was eating our dinner in the "secret stairwell."

- Dinner was awesome. There was a buffet around a huge dining room table with buns, meats and cheeses, chips, German potato salad (potatoes + vinegar + bacon + served warm = not my cup of tea), and DONUTS. Yes, Christmas Eve was the one night a year when most of my dinner was comprised of donuts. Chocolate sprinkle donuts eaten in a stairwell. Awesome, right?

- Even though it was his busiest night of the year, SANTA MADE A STOP AT AUNT BETTY'S. Everyone knew it was time when Jingle Bells started playing on the grand piano. Santa would come in, we would then sing Silent Night to remember the true meaning of Christmas, and then Santa would deliver the presents. So fun!

And the night would end with my mom and her seven brothers and sisters getting a big ziplock bag of pfeffernusse (pronounced fefferness), a little ginger-snap sort of cookie, from my grandma. These little cookies are so good, the big bag of them would usually be gone in 12-24 hours.

So this year, as I develop my repertoire of christmas cookies, I thought I'd give it a try.

I dug up the recipe that had been emailed to me last year from my Uncle Greg. My Uncle Greg is a serious baker, and a serious scientist. So included with the recipe was a variety of notes including the chemical reactions for the baking soda and vinegar in the cookies. Incredible.

I'm a little less detailed oriented.

Creme first. Sugar (2 cups), shortening (1 cup).

Then add mild molasses (1 cup) and an egg. This stuff looks like tar. But, confession, I didn't get mild molasses. This is the real stuff and the flavor is too strong. So, I made a second batch of dough and used 2/3 cup molasses, 1/3 cup corn syrup. They turned out about right. But I guessed on that substitution. Google had nothing for me on substituting regular molasses for mild.

Let the mixer do it's thing.

Can I also take this moment to say how much I love this machine? My college roommates got it for me for my wedding and I use it all the time. You can shred chicken in a few seconds. I make mashed potatoes in here a lot. I also make pizza dough and bread dough in it often.

Mix dry ingredients. Crazy that there is pepper in these cookies. I guess pfeffernusse means "pepper nut" cookies.

Then you combine the milk and vinegar, and alternatively add the dry ingredients with the milk to the molasses mixture. The consistency is much more batter-like than cookie dough. I did add 1/4 cup flour at the end to be sure it would hold together. But it ends up holding together because it is chilled overnight.

So the next day, I liberally floured my countertop and formed a 3/4 inch snake out of the dough.

Then cut up the snake into these little pieces. (A pizza wheel is recommended, but I used a chef knife)

Then you put these little guys on the pan and bake for 10 minutes at 350. Uncle Greg also recommends not to overload the pan, and only use one pan in the oven at a time for the most crisp, Grandma-like cookies. However, to follow this takes incredible patience. The recipe makes 18-20 dozen cookies. I eventually started loading the pan and putting multiple sheets in the oven. Forgive me, Grandma.

But they turned out good. Really good. I ate a lot of them!

Here's the actual recipe:

Jeanette's Pfeffernusse Cookies (Adapted by Uncle Greg)

2 cups sugar
1 cup (7.0 oz.) shortening
1 cup molasses, mild
1 large egg

1⁄2 cup sour milk ( 1⁄2 cup milk + 1 1⁄2 tsp. vinegar)

4 cups (20 oz.) all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. table salt
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Crème sugar into shortening with stand mixer. Add egg and molasses, mix well.

Separately sift flour, salt, pepper, and cinnamon together.

Into mixer bowl gradually and alternately add flour and sour milk to make a soft dough.

Transfer dough to large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight in refrigerator.

To make cookies, roll dough into 3⁄4” diameter snakes on liberally floured surface. Cut into medallions and place on cookie sheet. Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes.

Makes 18 to 20 dozen cookies.