Author: rang2015

Christmas Cookies—Grandma Maria Kaufman’s Pfeffernüsse

Two weeks after our marriage, Jerri and I moved into the bottom floor of an antebellum house in Charlottesville, Virginia, which had once been the slaves’ quarters.   We loved the place. However, while most of the rooms were big, the kitchen was so tiny and narrow that one person could not squeeze past another while working at the sink or range.

It was too small to make Pfeffernüsse. The total counter space was less than three feet, and since we lacked a dining table for several months, there was no place to roll out and cut the dough. Two years later, when we moved to Murray, Kentucky, we rented a farmhouse with an enormous kitchen, where Jerri made our first batch of Pfeffernüsse.

Pfeffernüsse are traditionally made in Germany for the Christmas holidays. The English translation of the name is peppernuts.  Commercial Pfeffernüsse from Germany are about the size of walnuts and are dusted with powdered sugar, but we much prefer these plain little peppery nuts: What other cookie lets you eat a whole handful without feeling guilty?

Jerri’s Swiss-German Mennonite ancestors brought this recipe with them when they emigrated to Kansas from the Ukraine in the 1870’s.  The recipe came to us from Jerri’s grandmother, Maria Kaufman, via Jerri’s Aunt Hilda, who was a talented cook famous for never letting anyone leave her home hungry.  

Jerri made these cookies for many years, keeping the family tradition alive and supplying them to her brothers and their families until her death in August 2020.  She made a half batch of Aunt Hilda’s recipe, which is itself a half batch of Grandma Maria’s recipe. Even the recipes of our ancestors were giants!

Here is Jerri’s recipe followed by the instructions from Aunt Hilda, with additional instructions and notes by Jerri.  This recipe makes about a half-gallon of cookies.

Pfeffernüsse aren’t hard to make. They just take more time than a lot of other cookies, BUT THEY ARE WORTH IT.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 cup whipping cream

1/2 cup dark molasses

1/2 tsp. oil of anise

1 T baking powder

3/4 tsp. salt

Rounded quarter teaspoons of the following ground spices:

cinnamon

cloves

black pepper

nutmeg

allspice

ginger

mace

cardamom

About 5 cups all-purpose flour

PROCEDURE:

Aunt Hilda’s instructions:  Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat in the egg, then add the cream, molasses and oil of anise and beat well. Sift about four cups of the flour, baking powder, salt and spices into the liquid ingredients a cup at a time, stirring well between each addition.  You will need a strong wooden spoon.  

Then gradually add the remaining flour. You may need to knead the remaining flour into the dough. The dough should be “firm–kinda stiff–but still maybe kinda sticky–not bad.”  Mix all thoroughly, cover and set in a very cold place overnight.  You can freeze the dough or keep it for days in the refrigerator. Bake in a 350º oven. “Watch carefully.  They burn easy. Smells wonderful. Tastes good. Yum! Yum!”

Aunt Hilda said that her mother couldn’t make these cookies until the weather turned cold, because they didn’t have a refrigerator. If you want to make them in the traditional way, put the dough into an unheated room. Otherwise, use a refrigerator.

Jerri’s instructions: Take pieces of the cold dough about the size of two walnuts and roll them into quarter-inch diameter “snakes” on a well-floured board. Layer the snakes on a baking pan and separate the layers with waxed paper. Jerri coiled them into a pizza pan. Freeze the snakes for several hours or overnight.  

When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350º and lightly grease two or three baking sheets. Chop three or four snakes at a time into three-eighth-inch-long pieces and put them on a cookie sheet. The pieces should be separated slightly. When you have a sheet full, bake it for nine to ten minutes. Let the cookies cool a minute or two before transferring them to waxed paper. Let the cookies cool thoroughly before storing them in airtight containers. These cookies develop their best flavor after being stored for at least two weeks.

JERRI’S NOTES: I use a big wooden spoon to stir this dough and usually get Chuck to help at the end of stirring so I don’t have to “knead” to get it stiff enough. Chop only three or four snakes at a time as they are easier to cut and place on the pan if the dough is frozen. Dusting your fingers with flour makes it easier to place the pieces on the baking sheets. If your oven heats unevenly (as did our previous one), you might need to turn the sheets after five minutes.

CHUCK’S NOTES:  I have never made these tasty little cookies myself, but I have stirred the dough, watched Jerri and placed lots of little pieces of “snakes” on the pans.  My first batch will be in 2020 now that Jerri is gone. 

The photo shows Grandma Rang’s Date-filled Cookies, Grandma Hopp’s Gingerbread Cookies and some Peppernuts.

Brianna’s Duck, Duck, Goose Wild Rice Soup

Wyatt wasn’t saying much, but he was alert and ready for action. The decoys had been set next to the blind and a mallard was flying overhead. He wore a camouflage hat as any good duck hunter knows is necessary, but his red and black plaid shirt would have betrayed him to the sharp-eyed duck above. It was pretty cold for a hunter-in-training, however, so the shirt was a good idea. If he had a chance to use the pop gun on his lap, at least he wouldn’t be shivering as he aimed.

Wyatt did well for a hunter just approaching his first birthday. He didn’t make a sound, just paid close attention to the stuff going into his trick or treat bag. My guess, however, is that most of the goodies ended up in Matt’s lunch pack to keep Wyatt’s dad warm in the blind or as snacks for Brianna as she put together Duck, Duck Goose.

A few days after Halloween, Brianna appeared at our door with a quart of this creamy wild rice soup made with ducks and geese that Matt brings home. We savored every spoonful, and I asked Brianna if she would let me share it on Courage in the Kitchen. She said yes, but there was still a problem.

I no longer hunt ducks or geese and therefore lack a key ingredient of Duck, Duck, Goose. I remember clearly my last hunt over decoys. My friend Bob and I had set our decoys at dawn on the south side of Totagatic Lake. It was November and a twenty-mile-an-hour wind was blowing snow mixed with freezing rain into our faces. As we slowly sank into the water on the bog and watched the bluebills riding the waves far out in the lake, it occurred to me that I was not enjoying the experience.

Thereafter I confined my duck hunting to sneaking up on teal on the ponds in my grandfather’s pasture. The best days for doing this was when it was sunny and warm. As a bonus, if there were no teal on the ponds, I could head for the thorn apple trees in the pasture in hopes of finding a grouse or two. The pasture is now a forest and I have not tried jump-shooting ducks for many years.

In all but a handful of the recipes for things that Jerri always makes, I cook every dish that shows up in this blog. However, Brianna was kind enough to give me her recipe, answer my questions and review the recipe after I had typed it out, so I’m confident that you’ll be able to put this really delicious soup on your table.

If you like wild rice soup but don’t have any wild ducks and geese, you might try Turkey Wild Rice Soup. I make it a couple of times a year with the remains of the Thanksgiving and Christmas birds that I bag at the local supermarket. We like that soup a lot, but Brianna’s version of Duck, Duck Goose is a soup that any hunter or hunter’s wife should make at least once every season.

The recipe makes a lot, so you can invite some friends or family members for dinner or share with the neighbors.

INGREDIENTS:

4 duck breasts
1 goose breast
5 cups uncooked wild rice
4 quarts water for cooking the rice
1 T salt
1 medium onion (about 3 inches in diameter)
4 or 5 large carrots
5 or 6 ribs celery
1/2 cup Riesling wine
1 T olive oil
4 quarts chicken stock
1/2 lb. butter (2 sticks)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup heavy whipping cream
Salt and pepper to taste

PROCEDURE:

Start by cooking the cleaned duck and goose breasts. It is very important that all the feathers and pellets have been removed from the meat. Remove any skin that may have been left on the breasts. You can render some wonderful fat from duck and goose skins. My grandmother saved this fat for making really tender pie crusts.

Put the breasts into a slow cooker with enough water to cover the meat by a half inch or so. Set the heat control to low and cook the meat for ten hours.

About an hour before putting the soup together, remove the duck and goose breasts from the cooker and allow the meat to cool while you start the rice.

Rinse the rice in cold water and put it into a large kettle or stewpot. Add the water and salt and bring the pot to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer the rice for fifty minutes. Check to see if some of the rice grains have popped open. If they have, the rice is nearly done. You can test it by chewing a few grains. They should be chewy but tender. Cook the rice a few minutes longer if you wish. Drain the water from the pot and set the rice aside.

Shred the meat into small pieces and set them aside while the rice is cooking. This is also the time to prepare the vegetables. Remove the stem and root ends and outer layer from the onion and chop it into a quarter-inch dice. Scrape or peel the carrots and chop them into quarter-inch rounds or half rounds. Clean and chop the celery into quarter-inch rounds. You want two to two and a half cups each of chopped carrots and celery.

Put a tablespoon of olive oil into a large pot (at least eight quarts) and cook the chopped onions over low heat for three or four minutes until they have become translucent, stirring often. Add the carrots, celery, chicken stock and wine and bring the pot to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about twenty minutes until the carrots are just becoming tender. Stir the meat and rice into the stock and vegetables. Raise the heat to bring the pot back to a very low simmer.

Make the roux while the pot is coming back to a simmer. Melt the butter in a skillet or heavy bottomed saucepan over moderate heat and stir in the flour with a wooden spoon. Reduce the heat and stir the flour continuously while it mixes with the butter and begins to bubble. Keep stirring for three to four minutes to cook the flour. Do not brown the roux. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the roux to cool slightly. Whisk two cups of slightly cooled broth from the the large pot into the roux, then stir the roux into the soup and simmer for another two or three minutes until the soup thickens.

Stir in a cup of whipping cream, bring just to a simmer, taste and adjust the seasoning. Do not boil.

Serve with good bread.

NOTES: I normally use a sauvignon blanc or other dry wine in chicken or vegetable soups. However, Briana specifically said that she likes Riesling in this recipe, and she is absolutely right. The sweetness of the Riesling complements the meat perfectly.

I prefer to make roux in a cast iron skillet, but I also use heavy-bottomed saucepans. If you don’t have heavy-bottomed pans, use very low heat and be careful not to burn the roux.