Did I ever share that I have cravings? This Christmas season I think a memory came back to me of eating an old world German sugar cookie at Christmas. It was recently when I started trawling the internet that I discovered these delectable little things are called “pfeffenusse” and are spicy little sugar cookies from Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands. What is distinctive about these cookies is that they are heavily spiced. In essence they are actually gingerbread cookies that are sugar coated but with a little more spice and zing than typical gingerbread cookies.
I wanted this cookie to be soft and chewy, and so there was a little more egg in the recipe. Almond flour in general also does not give a crispy cookie and so the cookie did turn out nice and moist. I personally found the sugar coating a little too sweet for me, but the kids and their friends demolished this batch of cookies really fast and did not find the cookies too sweet.
Low Carb Pfeffenusse
Ingredients
- 4 cups of almond flour
- 1 cup sugar substitute (erythritol)
- 1/3 cup almond flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tbsp ground ginger
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp ground white pepper
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp xanthan gum
- 3 medium eggs or 2 1/2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp molasses
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
Sugar coating
- 1 cup of Swerve erythritol confectioners sugar
- Water
Method
- Preheat the oven to 140 deg C. Prepare 3 baking trays lined with baking paper or silicon mats.
- Mix the almond flour, baking powder, sugar substitute, ground ginger, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, salt, pepper and xanthan gum in a large mixing bowl.
- In another bowl, beat the eggs, vanilla extract, molasses and coconut oil together.
- Mix the dry and wet ingredients together. When the dough is well mixed, spoon small portions of dough to roll into 2 cm diameter balls (I used a melon baller for this). Place dough balls on the baking tray and flatten slightly with the palm of your hand.
- Bake for 20 minutes each, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
- In the meantime, prepare the sugar coating. Place the confectioners sugar in a bowl and add water tablespoon by tablespoon and mix well. The icing liquid should be runny, about honey consistency.
- Dip the baked cookies in the icing sugar solution and then place on a wire rack. I found it useful to dip the cookies with a pair of chopsticks (although as an Asian I am probably happily familiar with manipulating round objects with chopsticks!).
- Allow the coated cookies to dry over a few hours. Because of the humidity in Singapore I ended up putting the cookies in the fridge which also worked out really well!
Still Feeling Peckish 