Easy Pfeffernusse Spiced Cookies with Powdered Sugar

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With the perfect amount of spice and sweetness, these Pfeffernusse a Spiced Cookies covered with Powdered Sugar will be a family favorite. 

Here's the number one reason to make these cookies - Who doesn’t love powdered sugar? 

Unless you know German, the name Pfeffernusse can be hard to pronounce. Basically, it’s a spiced cookie covered with powdered sugar. I don’t know about you, but I love the sweet taste of powdered sugar. 

These cookies are a soft, dense and chewy gingerbread spiced cookie, which are popular in Germany. You can often find them in advent calendars, counting down the days until Christmas. 

This is one of my go-to recipes at Christmas. There’s something about the sweet scent of Christmas spice that fills the house while they are baking in the oven. 

How long does it take to make spiced cookie? 

While these cookies take a little time to make, it’s worth the effort. They are delicious!

You’ll love the combination of molasses and cinnamon that gives these cookies a sweet little kick with every bite. My favorite is having them covered in powdered sugar. 

What’s the easiest way to coat the cookies with Powdered Sugar? 

There are two ways to coat these cookies. Either with a hard icing coating or dipped in powdered sugar. 

In this recipe, I’ve gone the powdered sugar route. Powdered sugar is the easiest way to coat the cookies and gives the cookies a nice even coating. You can even experiment with adding decorative touches with sprinkles or pieces of fruit. 

I’ve found the easiest way to coat the cookies is to place, still slightly warm, into a zip-lock bag with powdered sugar and toss them until covered or you can roll them in a shallow bowl with powdered sugar. Either way, gives them the beautiful snowy coating with just the right amount of sweetness. 

Do I need special tools to bake the Spiced Cookies? 

You need nothing special other than what you already have in your kitchen. 

Here are a few things that I like to use when baking these cookies. 

Cookie Baking Sheet - The easiest way to bake these is on a cookie baking sheet. 

Parchment Paper - Parchment Paper or a Silicone Baking Mat are the easiest way to keep your cookies from sticking to the baking sheet. The dough will feel sticky, but trust me, it won’t stick to your pan. 

If you don’t want to use parchment paper, you can use a non-stick cookie baking sheet. 

Cookie Dough Scoop - The cookie dough is scooped and placed onto the cookie baking sheet as a ball. This gives the cookies the height you need for rolling in the powdered sugar. 

Large Mixing Bowl - A large bowl used for the wet ingredients like eggs, milk and butter. After mixing the dry ingredients, you’ll gently fold in the dry into the wet ingredients. 

Medium-Size Bowl - The dry ingredients are mixed separately. Mixing the dry in a medium-sized bowl, you'll add to the dry to wet ingredients in the large mixing bowl. 

How Long Will Homemade Spice Cookies Stay Fresh? 

Storing your cookies in an air-tight container will guarantee that your cookies will stay fresh for 2-3 weeks at room temperature. 

When storing the cookies, you’ll want to make sure they are completely covered, with powdered sugar and cooled before storing. 

Let's Bake

Ingredients:

• Unsalted Butter
• Light Brown Sugar
• 1 Egg
• Molasses
• All-purpose Flour
• Baking Soda
• Cinnamon
• Cloves
• Allspice
• Ginger
• Powdered Sugar

Directions:

Cream butter and brown sugar in large mixing bowl. Add the eggs and molasses into the mixture.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and spices. Stir to combine.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.

Chill in the refrigerator for one hour.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and scoop into 1-inch balls. I've found it's easier to roll the balls with your hands after you've scooped it.

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

While slightly warm transfer the cookies to a zip-lock bag filled with powdered sugar. Gently turn the cookies over until they are completely covered with the powdered sugar.

Other Cookie Recipes

Are you a cookie lover? Be sure to try some of my homemade chocolate chip cookies or oatmeal raisin cookies.

Although I love cookies, sometimes a fudge chocolate brownie will do the trick and satisfy my chocolate cravings.

Printable Recipe for Pfeffernusse Spiced Cookies with Powdered Sugar