It took me a while to wade through the needed translations and interpretations of this recipe, which was written down in "Broken English" from one of my ancestors. And the first time I made it I didn't realize how large a batch it actually made. After counting nearly 12 dozen, I decided to go back over the recipe and cut it in half! That is what I bring to you today.
Farmer Boy Pfeffernusse Cookies
Ingredients:
- 1 3/4 Cups of all-purpose flour
- 1/8 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon of allspice berries (ground)
- 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground anise seed
- 1/4 Cup of blanched almonds (ground)
- 1 Cup of sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 Cup - finely chopped Citron
- Brandy or Brandy flavoring
- Powdered sugar
Directions: In a bowl: sift together the flour, salt, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, anise seed, and nutmeg. Mix thoroughly.
In another, larger bowl: cream the eggs and sugar. Add the flour mixture a little at a time to this. Mix thoroughly. Stir in the citron and almonds. Cover and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Place the chilled dough out on a floured surface. * Roll the dough to about 1/2 inch thick. *(I suggest you divide the dough into a couple pieces before you roll it out - this makes it easier to handle.) Cut the cookies out, using a 1 inch donut hole cutter. Place them on a lightly greased or non-stick cookie sheet. Cover the sheet (or sheets) with muslin toweling and put them somewhere cool * to rest overnight. *(You can put them in the refrigerator if you have room.) On the next day: bring them up to room temperature. Place a drop of the flavoring on each of the cookies. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees F. for about 12 minutes. (Be careful - don't let them get over-baked!) Take them out of the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool. As they cool, dust each with powdered sugar. Store in a tightly covered container with a piece of apple in it. (The apple keeps the cookies from getting too hard - or so the story goes.)
These cookies are great with a glass of milk or a a cup of hot tea, coffee or even hot chocolate! For me, tasting them brings me back to my childhood at Christmas. Those are good memories. :)
You might find that you want to make the original 12 dozen, so you can give them as gifts at Christmastime! Anyway, I hope you'll try this recipe. I'd sure appreciate it if you'd let us know how they turn out, by leaving a comment here. Thanks. The Old Man in the Bib Overalls
"Let us make memories carefully of all good things, rejoicing in the wonderful truth that while we are laying up for ourselves the very sweetest and best of happy memories, we are at the same time giving them to others." Laura Ingalls Wilder
1 comment:
These cookies look great. One of the things I've noticed about the Greek recipes my mother-in-law shares with me is they all make large batches.
During my virtual book tour to promote my children's book, Little Shepherd, I shared a recipe for Greek sugar cookies. They look similar to the ones in your picture--though yours seem firmer--but they have different ingredients and not all those spices. You can take a look at the recipe here if you're interested:
http://jqroseauthor.blogspot.com/2011/11/recipe-cheryl-malandrinos-greek-sugar.html
Thanks for sharing this recipe with us.
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