Vegan Pfefferneuse Cookies
By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
When I was growing up, every December, my mom made cookies, lots of cookies. Open the refrigerator, and there would be bowls of cookie dough, waiting to be shaped and baked. The counters were covered with repurposed coffee cans, filled with cookies. We shared plates of cookies with friends, neighbors, family members, and our teachers. The kinds of cookies varied a little from year to year. The basics included hand-painted sugar cookies, spritz, hermits, M & M cookies, and chocolate snowballs. Every year my mother would attempt to recreate the cookies of her childhood, the ones her German mother made. Her mother died young and hadn’t written down recipes, so all my mother had to go on was her memory of baking with her mother and the way her mother’s cookies tasted.
Her two favorite traditional cookies were Springerle and Pfefferneuse. Springerle, as my mother made them, were an anise-flavored dough, rolled with a special rolling pin that left little pictures imprinted in the dough. They were hard but softened with time and were great for dunking in coffee or tea. Pfefferneuse, or pepper nuts, were spice cookies that became even more flavorful with time. Mom said she came close to her mother’s cookies but decided that the flour she used was different from what her mother used and that explained why the cookies weren’t quite the same. These were sophisticated cookies, not the super-sweet sugar cookies that my brothers clamored for. I felt quite grown-up when I sipped milky tea while my mother drank her coffee and we shared the last of the Pfefferneuse and Springerle.
I’ve tried veganizing my mother’s cookie recipes for several years. This year, I decided to systematically test vegan variations on her Pfefferneuse recipe. The original recipe called for 2 eggs. My first trial was with two different egg substitutes – flaxseed and Ener-G powdered egg replacer. I made two batches of cookies. In one, I replaced 2 eggs with 2 Tablespoons of ground flaxseed and 5 Tablespoons of water beaten together. In the other, I replaced 2 eggs with 1 Tablespoon of powdered egg replacer and ¼ cup of warm water, mixed well.
The cookies were flavorful but the texture of both was odd. I can only describe it as rubbery, sort of cakey, a little dry but not crumbly. They did not get better with time. I thought of the two, the ones made with flaxseed were a bit better.
My mother’s Pfefferneuse recipe had no oil or fat of any sort. Perhaps that was the reason for the odd texture. Oil helps to reduce the development of gluten, resulting in a more crumbly texture. For my second trial, I used two different egg substitutes – flaxseed and aquafaba – and added a little canola oil. In one batch of cookies, I used the same flaxseed and water mixture as before. In the other batch, I replaced 2 eggs with 3 Tablespoons of aquafaba (the liquid from canned chickpeas).
The cookies made with oil were moist and chewy. They were not rubbery. The ones made with aquafaba had a vague off taste to me but were quite acceptable. The ones made with flaxseed were my favorites and that’s the recipe that I will share.
Vegan Pfefferneuse (makes about 4 dozen small cookies)
2 Tablespoons ground flaxseed
5 Tablespoons water
1 cup vegan brown sugar
¼ cup canola oil
2½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon cloves
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ginger
½ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup chopped pecans (optional)
Mix flaxseed and water in a small bowl and set aside for 5-10 minutes. Place in a larger bowl with the brown sugar and oil and beat for 3 minutes. Combine flour, spices, and baking soda in a bowl. Add dry ingredients to the brown sugar mixture along with the nuts, if desired. Mix gently by hand (do not beat). Add additional water, a tablespoon at a time, as needed to make a soft, not sticky dough. I added about ¼ cup of water. Cover and refrigerate for several hours.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Shape dough into small balls, about the size of a walnut, and place on baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool. Store in air-tight container at room temperature.
For more vegan cookie recipes see:
