Pebbernodder. That's right, you heard me.

Yesterday I made my first batch of pebbernodder in six or seven years (the "o" in pebbernodder is supposed to have that diagonal slash through it, but I'm not sure how to make blogger do that...). These little guys have a delicious, subtle, spicy peppery flavor to them, and aren't too sweet. They are transcendent with coffee, but also taste really good with beer (something most sweets can't pull off). And they are pretty fun to make.

My grandmother would make these little Danish cookies for us at Christmastime every year. Most years we would each get our own little tin full of them so we wouldn't have to worry about sharing them. My plan this year is to make a couple of batches and pack them up all nice to share with Josh's family when we head up North and West for the holidays this week. The problem is that I keep eating them, so I'll probably end up having to make three batches in order to have enough. They are that good.

For a step-by-step photo montage of the baking process, click here. The short version is, cream together four eggs and 1 1/4 cups of sugar in a big mixing bowl. In another bowl, wisk together 4 cups of flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp ginger, and 1 1/4 tsp cardamom. Mix the flour mixture into the egg/sugar mixture one cup at a time. The dough gets really stiff with all that flour, so you might have to mix by hand at the end. Take a small handfull and knead it together a bit, then roll it out like a playdough snake, about the diameter of your finger. Cut your snake into half inch slices, put them on a lightly greased cookie sheet, and bake them at 375 for 12-15 minutes. So easy, so delicious. And make a batch for me.