Grossmutter's Peppernuts — The Recipe That Reminded Me Why I Started the Book

December. Christmas prep. The rhythms are so deep now they're automatic: tree, lights, pralines, cookies, the drive to Thibodaux. But this year, I'm doing something extra. I'm making a cookbook. Not a real cookbook — a family cookbook. Handwritten. Joey's recipes, Mama's recipes, mine. The gumbo. The étouffée. The boudin. The bread pudding. Everything, written down, with notes and stories and the measurements that Mama keeps in her head and that I'm going to drag out of her if it takes all Christmas.

I bought a leather-bound journal at a bookstore on Perkins Road. Thick pages. The kind of book that feels like it should contain something important. Because it will. It will contain everything: the roux measurements, the soak times, the seasoning ratios, but also the stories — Joey stirring the pot on Sunday mornings, Mama's fig preserves with the mystery ingredient, the crawfish boil on my 35th birthday, Rémy's first roux at seven. The recipes are instructions. The stories are the reasons.

Danielle saw the journal and said, "You're going to cry writing this." She's right. I'm going to cry writing every page. And the tears will fall on the paper and make the ink run and the book will be imperfect and smudged and it will be the most important thing I've ever made, including the pit, including the business, because the pit burns what you put on it and the business serves what you sell, but the book preserves what you love. And what I love fills more pages than one leather journal can hold. But I'm going to try. I'm going to try.

While I’m gathering Mama’s roux measurements and Joey’s gumbo notes for the journal, I keep thinking about how many people have already lost those recipes — how many grandmothers took their peppernuts and their pfeffernüsse and their secret ratios straight to the grave because nobody thought to write it down in time. This recipe, Grossmutter’s Peppernuts, stopped me cold when I found it, because “Grossmutter” just means grandmother — and that’s exactly what this whole project is about. Someone, somewhere, loved their grandmother enough to preserve what she made. That’s the whole point. That’s the whole reason for the leather journal.

Grossmutter’s Peppernuts

Prep Time: 25 min | Cook Time: 12 min | Total Time: 37 min | Servings: About 60 cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, divided
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon anise extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Cream the fats and sugar. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and shortening together until smooth. Add 1 cup of the powdered sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 2–3 minutes.
2. Add wet ingredients. Mix in the molasses, egg, anise extract, and vanilla extract until fully combined.
3. Combine dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, black pepper, cardamom, and salt.
4. Mix the dough. Gradually stir the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until a stiff dough forms. If the dough feels too sticky, add flour one tablespoon at a time.
5. Shape the logs. Divide the dough into several portions and roll each into a rope about 1/2 inch in diameter. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.
6. Preheat and slice. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cut the chilled dough logs into 3/4-inch pieces and place them 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets.
7. Bake. Bake for 10–12 minutes, or until the bottoms are lightly golden and the cookies are set. Do not overbake — they should stay slightly soft in the center.
8. Finish with powdered sugar. While still warm, roll the cookies in the remaining 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Nutrition (per serving, approx. 3 cookies)

Calories: 145 | Protein: 2g | Fat: 7g | Carbs: 19g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 75mg