While enjoying the Christmas season in Fredericksburg, Texas, which has a strong German heritage, I discovered Pfeffer-Neusse cookies (aka Pfeffernusse) being made in a unique way. My fellow travel writers and I were visiting the Sauer-Beckmann Living History Farm on the Lyndon B. Johnson State Park & Historic Site. In the kitchen of one of the houses, one of the costumed interpreters was baking cookies for an upcoming holiday celebration using a recipe from a 1916 cookbook. She explained that the recipes, which had ingredients but often didn’t have instructions, “assumed” a level of knowledge of the cook, including how hot the wood-burning oven would need to be. In order to share the historic recipe with Real Food Traveler readers, I combine what was in the cookbook with methods I found in a variety of Pfeffernusse cookie recipes I found among my own collection and online to create a representative set of instructions.

Save this Pfeffernusse cookie recipe to Pinterest to keep it handy. Photos and graphic by Courtney Drake-McDonough.

Hungry for more? Get the recipe for authentic Moravian Spice Cookies.

Pfeffer-Neusse German Cookies
aka Pfeffernusse

The ingredients were taken from The Fredericksburg Home Kitchen Cookbook, published by The Ladies Auxiliary of Fredericksburg, Texas, 1916. See an Amazon affiliate link below for a 1976 reprint of this book. Note, that while most modern recipes contain butter, the cookie recipes I saw in this cookbook did not take butter but did take more eggs than typical. 

Ingredients:
4 eggs
3 cups flour
4 tsp cinnamon
2 cups sugar
1 cup pecans
2 tsp cloves
2 TBS butter
2 nutmeg (editorial note: we’re going to assume this is 2 tsp. ground cloves or 2 grated whole cloves)
2 tsp baking powder

When you visit the Sauer-Beckman Living History Farm in Fredericksburg, you may see costumed interpreters cooking and baking. On this day, they were baking Pfeffer-neusse cookies.

Instructions (adapted):
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large bowl, combine sugar and eggs, mixing well.
Gradually stir in dry ingredients, including nuts, mixing thoroughly.
Roll into 1-inch balls and place 2-inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper or a silicone liner.
Bake 9-11 minutes.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar OR make the glaze below.
Place on a wire rack to cool.

The cookbook being used to make delicious German holiday cookies.

Optional glaze:
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
3 TBS whole milk
¼ tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. ground cardamom
additional confectioner’s sugar in a separate bowl.

Glaze instructions:
Combine all ingredients except “additional confectioners’ sugar” in a bowl.
When cookies have cooled five minutes, dip the tops of them into the glaze, allowing excess to drip off. Then dip into the additional confectioners’ sugar. Put back on the rack to cool completely.
Store in an airtight container.

Hungry for more? Here’s another recipe from Fredericksburg, TX.

About the Sauer-Beckmann Farm:

Located on the Lyndon B. Johnson State Park & Historic Site, which also includes the Johnson’s home (his White House of the West), LBJ’s schoolhouse, family cemetery and LBJ Ranch Show Barn, the Sauer-Beckmann Farm shows what life was like around 1918. The working farm recreates what Texas pioneer life was like. See Park interpreters in period clothing, carrying out day-to-day activities as they would have been for a turn-of-the-century German family in Texas. Click here to learn more and to plan your visit. And stay tuned for our article about many other things to do in Fredericksburg during the holidays and year-round.

-Story and photos by Courtney Drake-McDonough, Publisher and Managing Editor of RealFoodTraveler.com.

Hungry for more? Let this article help you plan your visit to Fredericksburg, TX.

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