Pebernødder (Pepper Nuts)

Pebernødder is a traditional biscuit served at Christmas time in Denmark, available in shops and supermarkets. They are consideration to be the oldest Christmas biscuit in Denmark and directly translated means pepper nuts. The biscuits were referred to as nuts since baking soda was not available, which made the biscuits hard similar to nuts with a peppery flavour derived from nutmeg or pepper. Pebernødder was always placed in a bowl on the table and poured into paper cones which is hung on the Christmas tree.

There are plenty of recipes for these biscuits using different peppers and spices, however nutmeg gives a perfect heat. These pebernødder are not hard like nuts but rather crunchy and mildly spicy.

Ingredients

175 g butter

1½ cup brown sugar (250g)

1 egg

100 g cream

375 g plain flour

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground nutmeg

Method

Preheat oven to 200ºC normal bake. Sift flour, soda and nutmeg in a bowl. Place butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and blend until creamy. Add egg and mix until combined, followed by the cream. Add the flour mixture and blend until a uniform batter is reached. Pipe mixture in small dollops on greaseproof paper lined baking trays and bake for approx. 8 minutes. Allow cooling and store the biscuits in airtight containers.

Note: If you prefer the hard biscuits, leave baking soda out and if you prefer the biscuits spicier add 1 tsp. ground ginger.