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Pfeffernessle
1 pound sugar, 1/2 pound almonds, 1/2 pound citron, 1/2 pound candied lemon, 4 eggs, 1 nutmeg, 1 tablespoonful cinnamon, 1 teaspoonful cloves, 1/2 teaspoonful baking-powder, and enough flour to drop nicely on buttered tins. They should be as large as a silver dollar when baked; cut ingredients very fine.
A spice-cookie batter given in the old style: weights for everything but the flour, which the cook was expected to judge. A few decisions have to be made before you start.
- The flour is up to youFour eggs and a pound of sugar with a pound and a half of chopped fruit and nuts will take a good deal of flour, perhaps 1 to 1 1/4 lb (about 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 cups), before the batter holds its shape on the tin. Add it in stages and stop when a spoonful sits up rather than spreading.
- Weights, not cupsA pound of sugar is about 2 1/4 cups; a half pound of almonds is about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups whole. Use a scale if you have one, since the fruit and nut weights are the fixed part of the formula.
- Candied lemon and citronBoth are candied peel, sold in tubs at holiday time. A half pound of each is a great deal by modern taste; substituting some of it with chopped dried apricot or extra almond is a reasonable liberty. "Cut very fine" matters more than it sounds, or the cookies will not hold together at silver-dollar size.
- Whole nutmegOne nutmeg grated is roughly 2 to 2 1/2 teaspoons, a strong dose. Grate it fresh; pre-ground jarred nutmeg at that quantity tastes dusty.
- No pepper, despite the nameNothing in the list is hot. If you want the traditional bite, a scant 1/4 teaspoon of finely ground black or white pepper belongs with the cinnamon and cloves.
- Baking powderA half teaspoon for this much flour is barely a lift, which suits a cookie meant to be dense and hard. Doughs of this kind were often rested before baking as well.
- Oven and sizeThe recipe gives no temperature; a moderate oven, in modern terms around 350F, is a reasonable reading. A silver dollar is about 1 1/2 inches across, so drop teaspoonfuls and expect 12 to 18 minutes, until firm and just coloured at the edge. The batch is a large one, running to several dozen.
- They are supposed to go hardPfeffernusse set rock-solid within a day. Store them airtight with a slice of apple or a piece of bread for a week and they soften to the intended texture.