Pfeffernüsse Spice Cookies are German cookies that are filled with all the possible holiday spices, baked and coated with powdered sugar for that added pizazz! These cookies are very festive and make wonderful holiday gifts!
They are beautifully spiced with all the winter spices you can imagine – cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, black pepper, ginger, cardamom and sweetened with brown sugar and honey and yummy citrus flavors like orange/lemon zest. I added Orange and Cardamom Marmalade to the cookie dough as well making them ultra flavorful! The cookies have so much depth and are perfect accompaniment to coffee!
I had fun making them with my little munchkins over the weekend and they had so much fun using the mini christmas cookie cutters and creating the different shapes! I jazzed up the cookies by melting the @ghiradelli bittersweet baking chips, and dipping the minis in the chocolate(yes I want to swim in the chocolate too!) and freezing them for a minute to set them.
I love making little gift bags or boxes of these cookies and gifting them. This season is just NOT the same without a bountiful of cookies!
If you do make these delicious treats, please do not forget to tag #thejamlab on Instagram and/or leave a comment below on the blog post!
Happy Baking!
Cheers,
XO
Amisha
Ingredients
- For the cookies:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup almond flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest(from 1 medium lemon)
- 2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest (from 1 medium orange)
- 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup Jam Lab’s Orange and Cardamom Marmalade
- For the coating:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- For the chocolate coating(coats about half of the cookies):
- 2 cup Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Sift together flour, almond flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, ginger, nutmeg, salt, cloves, cardamom and black pepper into a large bowl.
- Place the butter, lemon zest, and orange zest in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until fluffy and combined, about 1 minute. Add the brown sugar and beat until incorporated about 1 minute. Add the egg and beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Add the honey and marmalade and beat until just incorporated, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle with a rubber spatula.
- With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture in three additions, mixing until just combined, about 1 1/2 minutes total. Do not overmix. Cover and refrigerate the dough into 2 separate batches until firm, at least 2 hours.
- Heat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
- For the powdered sugar mixture, in a medium bowl, sift the ingredients into the bowl and set aside.
- Flour your surface, flour the dough back and front, roll out the dough to about ½ inch thickness and cut out with the mini cookie cutters. Repeat the process until all the dough is used up. Bake the cookies for 6 minutes, then rotate the sheets from front to back. Continue baking until the cookies are very lightly browned around the edges, about 5 to 6 minutes more for a total of 11 to 12 minutes. Do not let them get dark brown else they will crisp up. You want them to be soft.
- Transfer the baking sheets to 2 wire racks and let the cookies sit until just about warm for 2 minutes.
- Drop the warm cookies into the spiced sugar, making sure to coat them all over, then shake off any excess sugar and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Store the cookies in an airtight container.
- For extra pizzazz, coat the cookies with ghiradelli baking chips, melted in a glass bowl, over a pot of water on medium to low heat, set aside on a parchment paper on a cookie sheet, and freeze them for a minute to set!

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