posted on December 18, 2000 01:04:05 AM new
I've lost my ginger cookie recipe. This is not an ordinary ginger cookie. It's hotter than most because you add white pepper. I've searched cooking sites, and there are plenty of ginger cookies, but none with white pepper.
posted on December 18, 2000 01:41:34 AM new
None of my many gingersnap recipes have pepper in them--sorry. But I do have a Pfefferneuse recipe that does (ginger, too):
Pfefferneuse (makes a *lot*)
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup finely chopped almonds (optional)
Directions
1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2 Combine dry ingredients and set aside.
3 In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar together until light. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4 Stir in dry ingredients 1/2 cup at a time. Add almonds, if desired.
5 Roll into one inch balls and arrange 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 11 to 14 minutes.
6 Cool and store in airtight containers for 3 days to mellow flavors.
There are other recipes that use *black* pepper...
posted on December 18, 2000 05:21:10 AM new
I found this on the web:
Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 egg
1/3 cup molasses
2 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/2 teaspoon powdered cardamom
1/2 teaspoon powdered cloves
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup coarsely chopped candied orange peel
sugar
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium bowl, cream together sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add egg and molasses, and incorporate well.
Sift together the dry ingredients and add to the creamed mixture. Mix well, then gently fold in the candied orange peel.
Place dough in the refrigerator until chilled. Shape dough into 1 inch balls, roll in sugar until well coated and place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake for 7 minutes, or until golden brown. Use a spatula to remove the cookies from the sheet and let cool.
posted on December 18, 2000 06:06:52 AM new
We always used black pepper; my grandmother used a recipe from the Bavarian branch of the family which I wish I had now. OTOH, better I don't, because as a kid I could eat an entire batch myself, on top of a whole loaf of stollen, not to mention springerlie (does anybody actually MAKE these anymore?).
Never seen orange peel before, but gee, it sure sounds like a nice addition.
If I recall correctly, both pfefferneuse and springerlie are supposed to improve with a week's "mellowing" in a tightly sealed container.
posted on December 18, 2000 09:08:46 AM new
Thanks guys!
bunnicula - what is Pfefferneuse? I think I would be eating those until next Christmas. Sounds like a lot of Pfefferneuse lol.
Meya - That one sounds pretty close and I like the idea of adding the orange peel. Mine didn't have that.
HCQ - What is Springerlie? The ginger cookies taste better after a couple of days too.
I'm the only one that eats the ginger cookies. I love anything with ginger in it. I get a really good tea from the Asian market that I drink during the winter.
I got so tired of just making regular cookies (I still make them though) that's one reason I started making different kinds. I also make Polish cookies that you deep fry.
posted on December 18, 2000 11:00:02 AM newchococake, we used to make those fried cookies too! Jeez, I haven't thought of those in 20 years.
I am a ginger fanatic too, and am constantly searching for CRISPY, thin ginger cookies that don't taste mostly of cloves. When I lived in the UK I used to go through at least a package of Butler's Ginger Crisps (really thin - yum!) a week.
IME, back in my baking days, I found that the recipes usually given for gingerbread houses made the best eatin' cookies. They generally use molasses and corn syrup for sweetening rather than sugar, and sometimes you boil the sweetening and fat before you mix in the flour. Because the dough's like clay, you can roll it out reeeeeeally thin, then bake slowly. Sorry - no recipe. I gave up gingerbread houses for good after, while still young and energetic I baked one for each attorney I worked for at Harvard, a scale replica of the Administration Building. Ferget it.
Springerlie are a dense, pale anise cookie (German again) about half the dimensions of a pack of cards. They're rolled out with a special rolling pin that stamps pictures on them, which of course is part of the fun. Think of them as the white, anise version of ginger cookies. Like most cookies, homemade is infinitely better than store-bought, although there was a German bakery near my house in Buffalo NY that made some good ones too.
Isn't there an Italian cookie flavored with black pepper? My son's father's family was Abruzzese (enough b's and z's? Can't remember) and Grandma used to make them and something else with little gobs of salt pork (?) in 'em. I guess they're an acquired taste. I bit into one of the pepper ones expecting Pfefferneuse and got quite a shock.
