Sourdough Pfeffernusse Cookies

Elevate your holiday baking with these delightful Sourdough Pfeffernusse Cookies, where the rich, tangy notes of sourdough starter meld seamlessly with the aromatic blend of spices. These bite-sized gems promise a perfect balance of sweetness and warmth in every festive bite.

Course Dessert

Cuisine German

Keyword Sourdough Discard

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 15

Fermentation Time 12

Total Time 12 35

Servings cookies

Calories 117kcal

Equipment

Cookie Scoop
2 Large Baking Sheets

Ingredients

1 teaspoon Cinnamon (ground)
½ teaspoon Nutmeg (dried and ground)
1 teaspoon Ginger (dried and ground)
½ teaspoon All Spice
¼ tsp Black Pepper (finely cracked - see notes)
¼ teaspoon Cloves
3 g Salt (¼ tsp)
3 g Baking Soda (½ tsp)
150 g Brown Sugar
110 g Butter (softened at room temperature)
5 g Vanilla Extract
1 Egg
85 g Molasses
100 g Sourdough Starter (or sourdough discard)
330 g All Purpose Flour

Sugar Glaze

250 g Powdered Sugar (icing sugar or confectioners sugar)
20 g Hot Water (you might need a little extra depending on how thick or thin you want the glaze)

Instructions

There is no need to preheat the oven for these cookies when you mix the dough because the dough needs to ferment in the fridge for at least a few hours before they are shaped and baked.
In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, all spice, black pepper, cloves, salt and baking soda and set aside.
In a medium sized mixing bowl, add the butter and brown sugar and whisk until well combined.
Now, to the butter and brown sugar add the vanilla extract, egg, molasses and sourdough starter. Whisk until the batter is light and fluffy. The sourdough starter will make the mixture seem a little marshmallowy.
To this bowl, add the flour and spices you combined earlier and mix with a spatula to form the cookie dough. Cover with plastic and place into the fridge to ferment and firm up. You can leave the cookie dough in there for up to 24 hours, but a minimum of 2 hours is sufficient. The longer you leave it, the longer your sourdough starter has to do it's job.

When you're ready to bake

When you're ready to bake the cookies, preheat your oven to 350F (175C) and line two large baking trays with parchment paper.
Using a cookie scoop, form balls of dough and gently roll them in your hands before placing on the cookie trays. Allow around 2 inches between each cookie ball as they do spread a little.
Bake the cookies for around 15 minutes, or until the cookies are golden and firm to the touch with just a little crackling on top.
Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool just a little.
While the cookies are cooling, add the water to the powdered sugar and stir to form a thick glaze.
Dip the warm cookies in the glaze and place on the wire rack until cool and the glaze is set.

Notes

Spices - I have measured the spices using volume measurements because they are too small amounts to register on most scales. You can add mace and anise to the spice mix if you would like to.

Black Pepper - you can use white pepper if you prefer. I've used black pepper because I prefer the taste and I didn't have white pepper on hand.

Sugar Glaze - If you don't want to dip the cookies in a sugar glaze, you can roll the warm cookies in powdered sugar. Give them a generous dusting and then allow them to cool on a wire rack.

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