• vegane Pfeffernüsse – pepernoten – pebernødder •
These vegan Pfeffernüsse Cookies are a soft, dense, and spicy German treat. Perfect with a big mug of coffee!
Start your engines…it’s cookie season! Ok…who am I kidding, every season is cookie season. It’s just that this time of year is when I seem to make them on a daily basis. These Pfeffernüsse Cookies are a real treat and I’m certain that you’ll enjoy them. Quick to make and not fussy at all, you can bake a whole bunch of these with relatively little effort.
I first tasted these cookies when I was studying in Germany while in college. During Christmastime especially, these cookies are found in many shops and markets. I unashamedly ate more than my fair share of them. They are very nicely flavored with a blend of warm spices like cinnamon, anise, clove, and pepper, which gives them a very subtle bite. In fact, the name of these cookies translates to pepper nuts.
A similar cookie is made in the surrounding countries, like Denmark and the Netherlands, but some of those versions have a longer bake time resulting in a crisp cookie. Still good if you ask me! The German version, though, is soft and a bit chewy. While they are traditionally made with butter and eggs, I’ve come up with a vegan recipe to mimic the dense texture of those spicy cookies. Because I was living in Southern Germany where candied orange and lemon peel are often included in the recipe, my version contains orange and lemon zest to preserve that taste I grew to love.
- 2 cups flour (I use half all-purpose, half whole wheat pastry)
- ½ cup almond meal (finely ground almonds)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ cup plus 2 Tablespoons water
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon molasses
- ¼ cup coconut oil
- 1 Tablespoon ground flax seed
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon ground anise
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon clove
- ½ teaspoon orange zest
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- powdered sugar
- Combine the flour, almond meal, and baking soda together in a large bowl.
- In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the water, brown sugar, molasses, and coconut oil. Stir and bring the mixture just to a simmer so that the sugar is dissolved, then remove from the heat. Let cool for 5 minutes, then add the ground flax seed, cinnamon, anise, allspice, nutmeg, black pepper, clove, orange zest, lemon zest, and salt. Mix well to combine.
- When this mixture is fully cooled, pour it all into the flour and almond mixture and stir with a large spoon to fully incorporate. The dough may appear sticky at first but it will absorb the excess moisture. When your cookie dough has completely come together, seal it in an airtight container and refrigerate for an hour.
- After one hour remove from the fridge. Preheat oven to 350°F. The dough should feel more dense now. Pinch off small, uniform pieces of dough and roll between your hands into a ball. You want them to be about 1 inch or so in diameter. Place them on a baking sheet and bake for 14-16 minutes. Turn one over to check doneness--if the bottom is golden browned, it's done. Remove from oven and transfer the cookies to a cooling rack. Cool them completely then toss them around in a bowl of powdered sugar to finish them. Store in an airtight container.
Perfect! Definitely will try this recipe! Living in Germany it’s very hard going through the aisles of any supermarket right now without feeling tempted to fill up my shopping cart with all kinds of Pfeffernüsse, Lebkuchen, Zimtsterne, Vanille Kipferl…
So I’m searching the Internet for vegan versions of my favorite Christmas treats!
Eva! I know the struggle! You reminded me of Zimtsterne! Those were another dangerous little goodie… I may have to play around and veganize them, too. Try this recipe, it’s not too difficult, not too too sweet, and the spicy taste is very good.
Hey Omar! I love your blog it’s beautiful. Lovely looking cookies too! xx
Thank you Amy, likewise! Swooning over your fennel and cardamom chai… 🙂
I used to look forward to Xmas just for Pfeffernüsse & Lebkuchen. I managed to veganize a lebkuchen cookie recipe and now am so thrilled to find your pferrernusse! Can’t wait to make a batch!! 🙂
@ Jenny D: Do share your lebkuchen recipe…
Jenny! Lebkuchen are so good! I miss those too. I’ll definitely check out your recipe! Enjoy the Pfeffernüsse! 🙂
Hi Omar, my son is allergic to almonds but I’d love to try making these. What do you think would work as a good substitute for the almond meal? Maybe coconut flour?
Hi Meg! Ok let’s see what we can do. Can he have other nuts? If so, you can substitute the same amount of finely ground hazelnuts, cashews, or walnuts. If he cannot have those either, I suggest adding another 1 Tablespoon of coconut oil and 1/2 Tablespoon more of ground flax to the recipe. If while you are mixing the wet with the dry ingredients you find that it is too sticky, add about 1 or 2 Tablespoons more of flour.
The coconut flour may work but my experience with it is that it’s very absorbent of liquid in recipes, and therefore it may dry out the cookies. You could, however, use 1/2 cup of finely shredded unsweetened coconut. It’s not traditional, but I think the flavor would be nice. If you go with this option, add another 1-2 Tablespoons more water to the recipe to account for its absorbent nature.