ronkala

Last year at Christmastime I made pferrneusse (spice drop) cookies, a treat I hadn't had since childhood. The flavor was good, but the cookies were pale in color, not the rich, dark brown I remember.

I thought about using brown sugar in place of the white sugar called for in the recipe. How much brown sugar is the equivalent of 2 cups white sugar? Also, I would like to add a little molasses, perhaps 2 or 3 tablespoons, to darken the batter. Would this significantly change the taste of the cookie?

Here is the recipe:

2 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sugar
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon pepper
4 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup finely chopped pecans

Beat butter and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until blended. Add cinnamon and next 3 ingredients, beating until blended. Add eggs, flour and baking powder, beating well. Stir in pecans.

Drop dough by heaping teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake at 350 degrees for 14 minutes. Remove cookies to wire racks to cool.

Yield: 6-1/2 dozen cookies.

Sometimes the cookies are rolled in powdered sugar. My childhood cookies had a crisp, white shell of sugar on them. Does anyone have a recipe for this coating?

DebitNM

Post this on the Lounge board. That seems to be best place for cooking tips.
Deb

persimmondeb

Is your recipe the same one that you ate cookies from as a child? This is striking me as a rather americanised one, particaularily with the pecans. I would look on chowhound for a different recipe, or if you can't find one that you like, leave out the pecans and add a little molasses. You also might use a slightly heavier hand with the spices. You can make the coating with confectioner's sugar, egg white (or meringue powder), and water. I don't have the exact proportions, but you want it a little runnier than royal icing (basically the same recipe). Also Bahlsen makes a very nice commercial one with the white sugar shell.

ronkala

This was by Mrs ronk. I got her started on the lounge and toward the end she hit some key that erased the whole thing. When I reset it for her I didn't realize it was not the lounge. Do forgive me.

ronk

FainaAgain

For colors in cookies, it may be honey, cocoa powder, or strong coffee (liquid, not powder).

lisettemac

I would look for a recipe on foodnetwork.com or allrecipes.com.

I would not add molasses if you are using brown sugar. Brown sugar essentially is white sugar with molasses.

hetismij

These sound like the Dutch Pepernoten that are eaten around Sinterklaas (yesterday!), but no icing or pecans involved. Brown sugar is used to make them darker. Molaases would seriously affect the flavour.

I found the following recipe using US measurements:
Ingredients:
11/4 cup flour
11/4 cup self-rising flour
½ cup brown sugar
2 tbsp. Water
1 egg yolk
¼ tsp. Each of cinnamon, nutmeg, powdered cloves and some anise seeds
A pinch of salt

Knead all ingredients into a soft ball. Butter two baking sheets. Form about ninety marble-sized balls. Divide them over the sheets, so that they are placed a equal distances from one another. Flatten each ball slightly. Bake about 20 minutes at 350 degrees F or until done. They are supposed to be very hard.

ronkala

DW sked that I thank you for your help.

ronk

happytourist

My German grandmother made these by the thousands at Christmastime. This is her recipe, cut in half. You might want to even cut it in half again. She always made them in October so they could harden and the flavor develop.

GRANDMA EMMA'S PFEFFERNEUSE COOKIES
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter or shortening
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon anise oil
1/2 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 1/4 cup sour milk (sour milk by adding 1/4 teaspoon vinegar and let it sit for 5 minutes--buttermilk could probably be substituted for sour milk)
4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Cream together sugar, butter and eggs. Add anise oil. Sift dry ingredients together. Beginning and ending with flour, add flour and milk mixture alternately to sugar and butter mixture. Chill one to two hours. Roll into pencil-thin strips and cut into very small pieces. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until lightly browned. Dough freezes well.

tzarinna

I don't know if I've ever had them.
It shall be my quest for this season.

traveller1959

Here writes the German:

The secret to make "braune Pfeffernüsse" is indeed to use molasses. Try one cup molasses and one cup sugar (taste the dough for the right sweetness).

Some use honey instead of molasses.