These spicy pepper cookies are perfect for the winter and holiday season. Spices like cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, pepper and cloves and sweet molasses make them very Christmassy and addicting. Fill your cookie jars with these delicious cookies and serve them with a cup of tea or coffee.
I’ve recently discovered these so-called pfeffernusse cookies or peppernuts. They are small spice cookies, traditionally prepared as a holiday treat in Germany. The main used spices are cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and black pepper. Also, they are covered with sugar icing. Despite its name, peppernuts, they don’t contain any nuts at all and very little pepper.
However, I didn’t make exactly these cookies. I was more inspired by the ingredients and the name. So, I took the base but I made some twists to the original recipe. Since I wanted to elevate the spiciness, I used a bigger amount of black pepper and, instead of sugar icing, I only dusted them with a decent amount of icing sugar. Love. Them.
It is an unusual combination of flavours, but I am sure you are going to like it. Imagine this. Firstly, when you bite into them, you’ll get through the crunchy crust to the chewy centre. Your palate will taste the ginger cookie, at first, but after a few seconds, all of the pepper heat comes out. You’ll feel a nice heat at the back of your mouth. Yes, they are spicy but you can’t stop eating them.
Molasses, maple syrup and honey
As you can see, this recipe calls for molasses and maple syrup. Molasses is a thick syrup that makes baked goods more moist. Also, because of its dark colour, it will affect the looks of your cookies as well. But its main purpose is to add sweetness to the food. Maple syrup or honey are also great substitutes.
Also, the decent amount of icing sugar will make a unique combo of sweetness with a kick from the pepper. Now, the amount of pepper, on the other hand, isn’t subtle at all. I put quite a lot of it in the dough. You can feel the heat.
For more cookie recipes you might check these out, too: pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, these fun coffee bean cookies, the festive chocolate crinkle cookies, the gorgeous Christmas sugar cookies or these buttery shortbread cookies.
Store the cookies in a cookie glass jar or an airtight container. They taste best when freshly baked and they will keep their texture up to one week.
Ingredients for around 20-25 spicy pepper cookies:
- 115 g butter (room temperature)
- 140 brown sugar
- 40 molasses
- 60 maple syrup
- a pinch of salt
- 300 g flour
- 3 g cinnamon
- 2 g ginger
- 1 g nutmeg
- 3 g ground black pepper
- 1 g cloves
- 2 g baking soda
- 1 egg (beaten)
- icing sugar for dusting
To begin, add butter, sugar, molasses, salt and maple syrup to a larger bowl. Mix on medium speed, until well combined. Then turn to high speed to get a fluffy texture. At this point, mix in the egg.
In another bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, baking soda and black pepper. Give it a quick whisk and stir it into the butter mixture.
Once it is well incorporated, cover it with cling film foil and place the bowl into the fridge for 30 minutes.
Afterwards, preheat the oven to 180°C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. To form a cookie, take a spoonful (using a teaspoon) or around 30 grams of dough and form a ball with your hands. Place it on the baking sheet. Continue with the rest of the dough.
Put the baking sheet into the oven and bake for 12-14 minutes. After baking leave them on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes and then transfer them on a wire rack to completely cool down.
Finally, dust the spicy pepper cookies with some icing sugar. They taste delicious. Make your friends guess the secret ingredient of these crunchy cookies by serving them with a cup of tea or coffee.
Enjoy.
