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| Spicy German Christmas Biscuits are popular world wide; make-at-home Chocolate Pfeffernusse will keep kids occupied for hours. |
One of the great culinary treats of Christmas is pfeffernuse: the tiny German Chocolate balls loaded with spices which are either bathed in a citrussy glaze or rolled in icing sugar.
They're readily available in the shops but home-made ones are really a cut above. And the dough can be made in advance, frozen and baked to order.
67 has many favourites but chocolately ones with hidden nuggets of finely chopped nuts are particularly pleasing, being both cake-like and dense.
Pfeffernusse are easy to make but there is a fair amount of measuring and beating. In fact, if you wanted to teach your kids to bake, this is a good one to start with.
Line up lots of small individual bowls/containers and have your child/ren measure out a single item in each bowl. Cook can check the measures are accurate before proceeding to the mixing stage.
Most of the spices are standard but don't worry if you haven't any of the exotic ones like cardomom.
The mixing can be done by hand but electric beaters are recommended as it's not easy incorporating molasses. The dough ends up very thick and sticky.
A small ice cream scoop is perfect for forming the biscuits but kids will love scooping out a bit of dough and rolling it into balls. And no one will worry if the pfeffernusse are assorted sizes!
Clear plastic gloves* will be a godsend as the kids will get grotty hands very quickly.
Make these at least a few hours in advance; better if overnight.
Cost: £2.50'ish?
Makes: 100 small
Ingred:
195 gm/6.9 oz wholemeal flour
70gm/2.5oz cocoa powder (not drinking chocolate)
50gm/1.7oz finely chopped almonds or hazelnuts (by hand or supermarkets)
1/2 tsp each dried:
cloves
nutmeg
cinnamon
ginger
cardomon (opt)
black pepper
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp orange zest
114gm/4 oz room temp butter
130gm/5 oz sugar (white & brown)
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
Topping: icing sugar or dip in melted chocolate (colour of your choice) or...
Glaze:
1 cup icing sugar, sifted
1-2 tbsp rum or brandy or orange juice
5 tbsp hot water
Method:
- Place flour, cocoa, nuts, spices & baking soda into a bowl; stir with a large whisk
- In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugars (zap butter in microwave 20secs if not soft enough) until light & fluffy; it will take a few mins (You will need electric beaters, a stand-alone mixer or masses of elbow power.)
- Add egg, molasses & vanilla and orange zest to butter; beat until completely incorporated
- Add dry ingred, one quarter at a time, beating well between additions; the final lot will be very thick and sticky
- Refrigerate a few hours
- Roll into balls about an inch big; place close together on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper; freeze a couple of hours or overnight
- Remove frozen pfeffernuse from tray, bag up and pop in freezer
- When ready to bake, take out however many pfeffernusse are needed; arrange on a tray with a little space in between
- Preheat oven to 355f/180c/160-70f
- Bake 8-10 mins
- Leave to cool on tray 5 mins; then move to cooling rack
- When completely cool, store in an air-tight tin; they're best up to a week (but 67's tasters were still happily eating them two weeks after they were baked)
- When ready to serve, either (a) glaze with icing mix or (b) roll in icing sugar
*Nisbets mail order - small to large
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This recipe has been developed by B M Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises. It may not be reproduced without the author's written permission. 
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