Peppernut Cookie (Pfeffernusse)

These little cookies are hard and crunchy with an intense spicy flavor
that
you tend to eat by the handful. They will keep up to 3 months under
lock and
key. Mother told me that this was an old German recipe that her Aunt
Tillie
Linscheid gave her.

Ingredients:

2 c. dark molasses
1 pound brown sugar, firmly packed
2 c. lard (substitute vegetable shortening)
1 cake yeast, dissolved in
1/2 c. strong warm coffee (substitute water)
1 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cloves (heaping)
1 tsp. ground cinnamon (heaping)
1/2 tsp. black pepper
3 drops anise oil
~3 c. flour

Directions:

Place molasses, brown sugar and lard (or shortening) in a pan and heat
until
it can be well mixed. Add the cake of yeast dissolved in coffee or
water.
Mix in remaining ingredients except flour. Add enough flour to make a
stiff
cookie dough. Let stand at least 1 hour and preferably overnight. Roll
in
long rolls about the size of a carpenters pencil (about as big around
as
your thumb); then cut in 1/2-inch pieces and scatter on a cookie
sheet. Bake
in 325-degree oven for 25 minutes. Makes hundreds of bite sized
cookies
(pepper NUTS).

Submitted by: Dee Brooks