Ugh, sorry about the posting gap!
First, my baby decided to get all her teeth at once. Incisors, molars, wisdom, you name it. She has all of them now.
Then I got sick. Yeah, the puking kind.
Then my preschooler got sick. That same, special kind.
Then it was Thanksgiving, and now we are here.
I have so many excuses!
Oh the last one is the most delicious - my internet connection has become, shall we say, unreliable.
Anyway. It's aight. I'm just getting back into this business anyway, right? There's time to iron out the, uh, bunches?
I'm so addicted to these little cookies.
They are like ginger snaps, but gingery-er.
No wait, SNAPPIER.
They're little molasses bombs with just enough black pepper to catch in your throat.
Pfeffernusse
adapted from Taste of Home
Makes 4 dozen
Important recipe information: pfeffernusse means peppernut!
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup honey
1 cup butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon anise extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup confectioners' sugar
In a small saucepan, combine the molasses, honey and butter. Cook and stir over medium heat until melted. Remove from the heat; cool to room temperature. Stir in eggs and extract. Smell that? Mm.
Combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves, pepper and salt. Gradually add molasses mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight (do not, by any means, eat it all at this point).
Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Place one inch apart on greased baking sheets. Bake at 325F for 9 minutes (longer if you like your peppernuts crispy). Remove cookies to wire racks. Roll warm cookies in confectioners' sugar. Cool completely. NOW devour.
