Pebernødder - Danish Pepper Nuts

Last year a customer at the Bazaar was looking for Pebernødder. I asked her what it was as I had never heard of it. She explained to me it was a Danish cookie some what like ginger bread. So of course I decided to add it to this years list of things to bake. So then the quest for a recipe...I went through my cook books but ended up settling on a recipe from about.com. So Thursday night when I came home from work was Pebernødder baking night.

This recipe, as with many Scandinavian cookie recipes, calls for hartshorn which is a leavening ingredient. I did have some but it was old and unusable thank goodness there is a German Deli in town and they did have it. The last time I bought it was at Ikea which is quite a drive and I wasn't even sure if they carried it anymore. If you don't have heartshorn/hornsalt you can substitute a baking powder and baking soda mix. If you want to know more about it click on the link. http://www.godecookery.com/cookies/infoba.html

So they were a success. My son went crazy over them so today I am baking a batch just for him! This will definitely be an addition to my Christmas Cookie list.

Pebernødder - Danish Pepper Nuts

Prep Time: 20 minutes


Cook Time: 8 minutes

Total Time: 28 minutesIngredients:

•1 cup butter, room temperature

•1 cup packed brown sugar

•1 egg

•3 cups all-purpose flour

•2 tsp. hartshorn / baker's ammonia (or 1 tsp. baking powder plus 1/2 tsp. baking soda)

•1 tsp. freshly ground cardamom

•1/2 tsp. cinnamon

•1/2 tsp. ginger

•1/2 tsp. cloves

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375º. Cream together the butter and brown sugar, stir in egg until well-blended. Sift together remaining ingredients, then mix into batter to form a stiff dough.
Pinch off handfuls,(small handfulls as they are easier to roll )of the dough and roll into 1/2"-thick snakes on a pastry mat or a lightly floured counter.  If you are using a pastry mat you do not need to flour they roll out great. Using  a sharp knife, cut each snake into 1/2"-long pieces (about the size of a hazelnut). Place pieces on an ungreased cookie sheet, separating them slightly, and bake for 8 minutes.

Yield: Lots (around 600 Danish Pepper Nuts).

The link to the orginal recipe: http://scandinavianfood.about.com/od/cookierecipes/r/peppernuts.htm