Italian pepper cookies: Say what?

Never heard of pepper cookies, would never have conceived of such a thing. But in searching for a different recipe among my late mother’s cookbooks (before she died), I came across this recipe. The name alone intrigued. I snapped a picture of the recipe with my phone but never got around to trying them.

After mom died, I took the cookbook in question home with me, partly because it was made by the people she worked with decades ago to hold a large festival in the gym of the St. Joseph Oblates Seminary on Route 315 in Laflin (Dad’s boilo and phenomenal egg nog recipes are in it). They raised money for the Passionist Nuns, if I remember right, who held a retreat mom attended every year, getting a break away from the nine kids she constantly tended. I even got out of school one day a year to go help set up the festival tables and decorate the gym where the women would sell mostly food but other items as well. Mom varied from selling store-bought candy to home-made halupkis, lollipops and chocolates. For a while she made a quilt each year to auction off at the festival.

I finally decided to make the pepper cookies last week, baking them on — as MT politely pointed out — one of the hottest days of the year. I started early in the cooler morning, but the kitchen still heated up enough to make me sweat a bit.

So what does a pepper cookie taste like? Not pepper, to my palate, though since I used fresh-ground there was an occasional sharp bite of the heat. “Spice cookies” would be more accurate, and maybe some word other than “cookie,” which — as the taste testers in the newsroom proved — tends to create an expectation of something considerably sweeter.

That said, I enjoyed these very much. The mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and most noticeably cloves created a warm, flavorful effect. And while the unsweetened cocoa won’t be chocolatey enough for many, it contrasted the spices nicely. But it was such an odd creation, at least in my repertoire, that I had to get feedback from co workers. Reviews were predictably mixed.

“I hate spice,” reporter Hannah Simerson admitted. Combine that with “I love soft cookies,” which these are not, and she concluded “this seems like a winter time cookie.”

I agree. They struck me as a possible Christmas time serving, and some websites list them as yule treats, often coated with a sweet icing.

”Pepper cookies, anise cookies, they’re not my favorite,” reporter Bill O’Boyle said. “Give me a good chocolate chip cookie any day.” The anise reference stems from MT baking some for the taste testers, and interestingly those not-so-sweet cookies are a Christmas tradition in her family (not mine).

“Do I detect cloves?” reporter Jen Learn-Andes said. “I love the way they smell. That’s what makes a cookie for me.” She liked them enough to reach for a few more during the day, but said she’d prefer them with a bit more chocolate flavor.

“They remind me of Christmas,” page designer Lyndsay Bartos said. “They’re good, and they’d go well with ice cream.”

I hadn’t thought of that. I did think they would make a fine complement to a cup of coffee, and actually had a cookie or two the next morning with a mug of java. But I could see them working very well sitting atop a scoop or two of ice cream in a small bowl.

Page designer Ashley Bringmann thought the spices were not “overpowering,” but nicely balanced.

And news editor Roger DuPuis focused a bit on the walnuts, calling them “a nice contrast to the rest of the cookie.

“And I agree with Lyndsay,” he added. “They’d go well with ice cream.”

Two tips from my experience: 1) the dough came out very powdery, and I had to add about a half cup of water before it would come together enough to form balls, 2) don’t worry about the cookies spreading out during baking. For me, the ball I made was the final shape when they came out of the oven, so you can put them pretty close together on the sheet.

Dobru chut!

Italian Pepper Cookies

2 ½ cups flour

1 cup sugar

½ cup melted shortening

½ cup cocoa

1 egg

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon allspice

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup walnuts, chopped

Heat oven to 400°. Cream sugar and shortening together. Add the cocoa and egg and mix well. Sift dry ingredients together and mix in. If dough is too dry to form small balls, add some water. Roll into balls and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes.