It’s the most fattening — er, wonderful time of the year, Tartlets! It’s COOKIE SEASON!
And, Pfeffernusse Sugar Cookies with Easy Marbled Icing are sure to impress all your guests this holiday season.
Why are Pfeffernusse Sugar Cookies with Easy Marbled Icing the book-inspired recipe for Decoding the Stars?
Star-shaped cookies seemed an almost embarrassingly obvious choice for the book-inspired recipe for Decoding the Stars. Especially this time of year, when star designs abound for Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year’s.
I also wanted to bring a lil’ galactic flair to my cookie décor, and marbled icing is a great way to do that. Finally, I wanted to bake some cookies since this is my last post of the year, and sugar cookies seemed like a great fit for the holidays.
I love me a good sugar cookie, but I’m the first to admit that they can be a little bland. Most sugar cookies depend on royal icing to make them delicious.
I love decorating Christmas cookies as much as the next gal, but during the holiday season, my time is short: I’m looking for desserts that I don’t necessarily have to be decorated or iced.
Which is why Pfeffernusse is such a great flavor to pack into traditional sugar cookies.
What does pfeffernusse taste like?
Pfeffernusse – which roughly translates to “pepper nut” — is a German cookie that’s really popular around Christmas time.
The best way to describe pfeffernusse is gingerbread cookies laced with anisette and a pinch of black pepper. That lil’ unexpected kick from the black pepper is what makes pfeffernusse cookies so unique.
If you like gingerbread, you’ll probably like these cookies. If you like chai things, you’ll probably like these cookies. And, if you like anisette cookies, you’ll probably like these cookies
PSA: For those of you who, like me, don’t enjoy the flavor of anisette, licorice, etc: the amount of anise extract used in this recipe is tolerable, mostly because there are so many other wonderful, warming spices in the dough to balance it. Let it be noted that I prefer using one tsp of extract instead of two — see Recipe Notes below.
Easy Marbled Icing is a great royal icing substitute
As I said, I love decorating sugar cookies. But you know what? It takes awhile.
And making royal icing is a pain in the ass. After baking a buttload of cookies, the last thing I wanna do is spend another few hours making and coloring batches and batches of royal icing.
The Easy Marbled Icing I’ve paired with my Pfeffernusse Sugar Cookies is, as the name suggests, easy.
Just whisk together a few ingredients, and you’ve got a sugary glaze with the same smooth, silky appearance as royal icing — no egg whites or meringue powder required!
How to make Marbled Iced Cookies
Now that you have your icing base, you can go wild with coloring options. The marbled icing technique is a fun, easy way to make multi-colored cookies for all occasions with just a few drops of food coloring and some toothpicks.
That’s right — forget the pastry bags, forget the piping tips! Ya don’t need ’em. Instead, you’re just going to swirl a few drops of gel food coloring into your white icing – creating a marbled effect – and then dip the cookies into it.
As much as I love piping frosting onto cookies, marbled icing is such an easy, untraditional way to jazz up your cookies without losing your entire day to decorating. Which means there’s more time for cookie eating.
Because that’s what this time of year is all about.
Why I love these Pfeffernusse Sugar Cookies
Pfeffernusse sugar cookies can be cut into any shape you want, and the icing can be decorated for any occasion you want.
As you can see, I made red and green marble cookies for Christmas, blue and white cookies for winter and/or Hanukkah, and then some pink and yellow cookies just because I think they’re pretty.
If you’re going to be dipping your cookies in the marbled icing, be sure to keep your dough on the thick side. Roll it out to ¼ inch before you start cutting out the cookies. (Use a measuring tape; don’t eyeball it.) The icing can get a little suction-y, and thinner cookies will break as you pull them out of the icing.
Plus, who doesn’t like a nice, thick cookie to sink their teeth into?
What do you serve with Pfeffernusse Sugar Cookies?
While Pfeffernusse is associated with the holiday season, they’re really a cookie that can be enjoyed year-round. If you’re hosting a Holiday Cookie and Hot Cocoa Party, set out Pfeffernusse Sugar Cookies next to some Jam Thumbprints, Peppermint Chocolate Crinkle Cookies, and Spiced Walnut Cookies.
For a festive dessert table, these cookies are a great complement to Spiced Christmas Brownies and Cinnamon Roll Cake, or to Rose Honey Cake, Orange Almond Cake, and Apple Crumble Galette if you want simpler seasonal flavors.
Pfeffernusse Sugar Cookies with Easy Marbled Icing
Ingredients
PFEFFERNUSSE SUGAR COOKIE INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1-2 tsp anise extract**
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 1 tbsp milk
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3/4 tsp ground cloves
- 3/4 tsp ground ginger
- 3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 3/4 tsp ground black pepper (NOT freshly ground)
- powdered sugar (for rolling out the dough after it has chilled)
ALMOND MARBLED ICING INGREDIENTS
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tbsp light corn syrup
- 1/4 cup room temperature water, added in small amounts
- 1/2 tsp almond extract (or, to taste)
- gel food coloring (as many colors as you want!)
Instructions
PFEFFERNUSSE SUGAR COOKIE DOUGH INSTRUCTIONS
- Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer, cream together the butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the egg and the milk until combined.
- Add in the anise extract** and beat into the mixture.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and black pepper.
- Gradually beat the flour mixture into the wet ingredients, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary, until all ingredients are thoroughly incorporated and a thick cookie dough has formed.
- Divide the dough in half, pat each half into a disc, and wrap each disc in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for at least 2-3 hours, or overnight.
PFEFFERNUSSE SUGAR COOKIE BAKING INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Line 2-4 cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Sift powdered sugar over your work surface. I like to roll out dough on chilled silpats.
- Remove one disc of chilled dough from the fridge. Use a rolling pin to roll dough out over your powdered work surface to a ¼ inch thick.
- Use your cookie cutters to cut out your desired shapes and place cookies on the prepared baking sheets. Repeat rolling and cutting process with all remaining dough. Cookies should be at least 1 inch apart since they will spread slightly in the oven.
- Bake cookies at 375F for 7-9 minutes, or until just starting to brown on the edges.
- Remove baked cookies from oven and let rest 1-2 minutes before transferring them to cooling racks. Cool cookies completely before decorating.
MARBLED ICING AND DECORATING INSTRUCTIONS
- In a large bowl, whisk together the 2 cups powdered sugar, cornstarch, and almond extract. Thin out the mixture by adding a little water at a time until you have a thick but pourable icing.
- Pour the icing into individual bowls (make sure your largest cookies will fit in them!). Add 1-2 drops (no more!) of your desired gel food coloring(s) to each bowl, then lightly swirl the colors together with a toothpick. Two or three swirls should do it.
- Dip a cooled cookie face-down in the marbled icing, let sit for a few seconds, then GENTLY tug it up and away from the bowl. Flip the cookie over so the icing side is now facing you, and you should see a marble pattern.
- Place decorated cookies on a baking sheet to let the icing dry completely before storing. Repeat marbling process as needed with as many cookies and colors as you want!
