Shaker Gourmet: Pfeffernuesse

From Shaker Cheezwiz, who says: "They're very similar to ginger-snaps, only crunchier and without any ginger. This recipe makes a ton, and they're great to share, or if you feel like hoarding them, they will last for well over a month (again, the staler, the better). They're also excellent dunked in coffee, cocoa, spiked eggnog or milk (or whiskey, or rum, or..)."

Pfeffernuesse (aka Pfeffernuss, Pfeffernüsse)

Ingredients

* 1 cup butter
* 4 eggs
* 3 cups sugar
* 1 cups brown sugar
* 5 cups flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
* 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
* 1/2 to 1 teaspoon pepper (I prefer them with more, it gives a nice spicy flavor to the cookie)
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
* 2 teaspoons ground anise (not personally fond of anise, this can be left out if you're not either)

Preheat oven to 350

Cream together butter, eggs, and sugar

Mix in all the dry ingredients - should become vaguely crumbly. (I recommend using a hand-mixer on its lowest setting, if you have one - it can get pretty dense)

Grab a handful of dough, knead to form a ball and roll it gently into a snake. Repeat. Cut the snakes into fingernail-size bits. I recommend cutting the snakes as you go (ie, cut pieces and lay out in the pan, cut, lay out, etc) and refrigerating the uncut snakes in between batches so the dough doesn't get soft.

Arrange on greased baking sheets (they don't need a whole lot of space in between - they don't spread very much) and bake each batch about 10 minutes. If your cookies are a little bigger (mine usually end up about the size of a quarter), then you may need to bake an additional 10 minutes or so.

If you'd like to participate in Shaker Gourmet, email me at: shakergourmet (at) gmail.com