These spiced PFEFFERNÜSSE cookies bring me back to my childhood, as my Swiss-German father is a HUGE fan of them, and always ate them around Christmas time! They weren’t so easy to find in Hong Kong way back when, but my grandmother was very sweet to send us the occasional care packages from Switzerland, with a variety of spiced / gingerbread cookies.
Christmas is by far my favorite time / celebration of the year. The moment November 1 hits, the Halloween decorations come down and up go the Christmas tree and other decorations. It’s a tradition I started with my own children, and it’s the time of year my children count down to from September!
Now, this year, I’ve decided to adopt the cliché Christmas tradition of baking a variety of Christmas cookies together with my munchkins. I must say, fellow Universal Mom - Helena - has been quite the influence on me regarding cookies, since she introduced the Swedish Fika cookies in our blog. Nothing is more satisfying than grabbing a home-baked cookie with a cup of tea when energy levels start tanking…
These Christmas cookies are very easy to make, and taste even better 2-3 days later! So here’s to the Christmas countdown!
INGREDIENTS:
70 g sugar
160 g honey
1 pinch of white pepper
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cardamom
1/8 tsp ginger powder
1/8 tsp ground cloves
Pinch of ground aniseed
1 tsp baker’s ammonia
310 g all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 egg (beaten)
ICING:
1 egg white (medium sized egg)
1.5 tsp lemon juice
160 g powdered sugar
- Preheat the oven to 180 C (I used a fan-forced convection oven).
- Prepare 2 baking sheets with wax paper.
- In a medium-sized bowl, add flour, salt, cocoa powder and baker’s ammonia. Whisk well to combine.
- In a small pan, add honey and sugar and stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves.
- Stop the heat. Add all the spices into the honey mixture and stir until well combined.
- Pour the honey/spice mixture into the dry ingredients, mix a little to incorporate the honey, and then add the egg. Stir with a spatula and then use your hands to finish the combining process. The dough will be slightly sticky. Try not to add flour, unless the dough is overly sticky. However, keep in mind that the more flour you add, the dryer the cookie will be.
- Allow dough to rest for 10 minutes.
- Brush a rounded teaspoon lightly with oil, and spoon a small mound of dough into your hands, rolling it into a ball.
- Place on the baking sheet, and continue with the rest of the dough, keeping around 1.5 cm of space between each ball.
- Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 10 minutes, turning the baking sheet around halfway through.
- During this time, beat the egg white in a medium bowl together with the lemon juice until slightly frothy. Add half of the powdered sugar and beat until the mixture turns a silky white and almost resembles melted marshmallows (though a little more runny). Add the rest of the sugar and continue to beat until smooth. If too thick, add a little water and mix again.
- Take cookies out of the oven and allow to cool for a minimum of 10 minutes. Add the 2nd baking sheet into the oven for the next batch, again turning the baking sheet around halfway through the cooking time - 10 minutes.
- Once cookies have cooled, dip the rounded side into the icing and twist around to cover the entire top. Using a toothpick, pop any bubbles that form on the surface of the cookie and spread the icing to any areas that are a little bare.
- Place on a cooling rack to dry. Once the icing has set and hardened, place the cookies in an airtight cookie jar / container. Enjoy with a cup of coffee, tea or milk!
Guten Appetit! En Guete! Bon Appétit! Buon Appetito! Itadakimasu!
Gastronomically yours,
💖Pia
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