A Rare Posting - A Recipe for the Masses

So this is a special edition of my blog post... Courtesy of my lovely wife.

Last weekend I attended a framing party for Help Portrait. I brought a bucket, yes literally a one gallon bucket, of Peppernuts that my wife had made. They were a hit. When I left two hours later the bucket was drained as several people took ziplock bags of them home with them.

Many of the folks who attended asked for the recipe and tonight Nathan reminded me that I need to get this recipe out there; or else. So here it is.

Peppernuts 

Ingredients:

3 cups white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1½ cups of butter
3 eggs
1½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. oil of anise
9-10 cups of flower
(Optional - ½ to 1 cup of crushes nuts; peanuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, etc.)

Steps:

1. Cream together sugars and butter.
2. Add eggs and set aside.
3. In a new bowl, sift together all dry ingredients. Add to creamed mixture from Step 1 with oil of anise.
4. Kneed thoroughly on lightly floured board or using a mixer with a dough-hook. Do not try and use a mixer without a dough-hook or you will burn it out. No dough-hook means kneed by hand.  
5. Two options for Step 5 pick one:
• Option 1: Roll dough into long ropes, ¾ inch in diameter. Using scissors, snip into ½ inch long segments.
• Option 2: Split the dough in half and roll each half flat until it is ¼ inch thick. Cut into 1"x1" squares. 
6. In Step 7, start with a small batch, of six or so, and experiment with how your oven cooks.
7. Bake at 325° for 12 minutes. 

*IMPORTANT - Do not over bake. At twelve minutes these will be crispy cookies or nuggets, depending on your choice in Step 5. If you go over twelve minutes and they will burn. If you take them out at nine or ten minutes, the center will be firm but chewy, a little like salt water taffy in texture. You can experiment with this timing to get the results you want.