Egg Free Pfeffernüsse or Pepper-Nut Cookies
I have been baking up a mini-storm of cookies over the past week mainly for gifting. After so much of sugar laden baking, I was just looking for something different to bake when I came across Pfeffernüsse which translates to Pepper-Nut cookies in English.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter , at room temperature (I used salted )
- 1/4 cup sugar + 2 tbsps
- 1 1/2 tsps honey
- 1 1/2 tsps flax seed water meal in warm + 2 tbsps
- 3/4 tsp cinnamon powdered
- 3/4 tsp clove powdered
- xbe tsp ginger powdered
- 3/4 tsp cardamom powdered
- 3/4 tsp black pepper freshly crushed
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour + 4 tbsps
- milk some if the dough is too dry (optional)
- almonds blanched and halved
Instructions
- Sift the flour and baking soda and keep aside.
- Cream the butter with an electric mixer. Add the sugar and honey and beat till fluffy. Now add the flaxmeal + water/ egg and spices and mix well.
- Add the sifted flour and mix till well belnded. I found the mixture a bit dry and was not able to bring it together as a dough. So I sprinkled a few tsps of milk to form a dough. My method of shaping these cookies is slightly different from the original recipe.
- Pinch off small pieces of dough, a little larger than a marble, and using both palms of your hands press the dough and roll each piece into a smooth ball. Flatten slightly and press a blanched almond half on top of it. Similarly shape the rest of the dough into cookies and place on a greased cookie sheet. They can be placed close together as they do not spread very much on baking.
- Bake them at 180C (350F) for 15 to 18 minutes till they start looking golden. The under side of the cookies will be darker brown. Cool completely on a rack.
- These cookies are a bit dry, lightly crunchy on the outside and softer on the inside. Letting them age for a 3 or 4 days improves the flavour of these cookies.