Mt. Pleasant Classical Academy

It is that time of the year, the time to make traditional cookies that only get made at Christmas. Growing up my family had one recipe that fit that criteria—Penny Cookies. We all couldn’t say Pfreffernusse as kids so Nana had us call them penny cookies — they look like pennies.

Nana wouldn’t share the old family secret recipe with anyone but once grown I asked my various Aunts if they had the recipe. Sure enough one Aunt had the secret recipe and she shared it with me. Guess it won’t be a family secret recipe after being posted on the web, Now the story goes that Nana supposedly used her thimble to punch out these cookies, but that is impossible. I tried it. Plus this recipe makes hundreds of these cookies which would have taken tons of time, and well Nana would rather be cleaning then cooking so I doubt she really used a thimble. Grandpa liked Nana to add lots of black pepper to the recipe; Aunt Marcia left the black pepper out when she made it for little kids. We all like it with the pepper.

Pfreffernusse

2 cups dark corn syrup
2 cups sugar
2 cups shortening
1 cup coffee
1 tsp soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp ginger
2 tsp ground cloves

Mix together in LARGE bowl, add 14 cups of flour

Roll out in snake like rolls (a penny size in diameter) and cut in one inch pieces. Bake a 350 until brown, 12-15 minutes.

Store in coffee cans for 3 weeks for flavors to blend.

We’ll be making these today or tomorrow. Do you have a traditional cookie only for Christmas?