Cacao Pepernoten

A community recipe by Coby

Not tested or verified by Nigella.com

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Introduction

It is with a great deal of pride that I share this recipe. I made it up myself from a taste-memory long, long ago. The addition of cocoa is simply because I think chocolate makes everything better! Don't be put off by the long list of ingredients - it's all spices, there's not much to this recipe at all. There should be a 'note' of peppery heat upon finishing these tasty morsels.

Ingredients

Serves: Makes 32 cookies

Metric Cups

300 grams plain flour
50 grams ground almonds
20 grams cocoa
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
½ teaspoon baking powder
125 grams butter (soft)
150 grams brown sugar
60 grams golden syrup
1 pinch of salt
1 egg

11 ounces all-purpose flour
2 ounces almond meal
1 ounce unsweetened cocoa
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
½ teaspoon baking powder
4 ounces butter (soft)
5 ounces brown sugar
2 ounces golden syrup or light corn syrup
1 pinch of salt
1 egg

Method

Cacao Pepernoten is a community recipe submitted by Coby and has not been tested by Nigella.com so we are not able to answer questions regarding this recipe.

Preheat oven to 180C and line a baking sheet or two (I use recyclable stuff, baking paper would work of course).
Combine the flour, ground almonds, cocoa, spices and baking powder giving them a bit of a stir about. Set aside.
Beat the butter in a large bowl until it is light and fluffy, then add the brown sugar and beat again until they are well combined and the mixture has taken on a lighter hue.
Add the golden syrup and beat once more until combined. Crack in the egg and add the salt giving it all one final beat together until the mixture is quite fluffy.
Sift in the flour mixture into the creamed butter and sugar and push the leftover bits of cocoa and ground almonds through with the back of a spoon.
Using a spatula mix it all together well. You will think for a while it's too dry and that it wont come together but have faith, it will. When the mixture has darkened and looks mostly damp, get hand into it and mix it about, the warmth of your hand will bring it all together.
Keep kneading it until is is smooth. Transfer the dough onto a board and roll it into a log about 35 cms long. Cut the log in half, and each half in half and so on until you have eight pieces of roughly the same size.
Cut each of these in a cross shape to make a total of 32 cubes*. Form these into balls. Place the balls of chocolaty dough onto the lined trays with a little space between them (they wont spread too much) and pop them in the oven for about 12-15 minutes.
Their bases will have a slight tinge to them, but the biscuit colour will only have lightened a little. Remove from the oven, and leave on the tray to cool for about 5 minutes before transferring onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Preheat oven to 180C and line a baking sheet or two (I use recyclable stuff, baking paper would work of course).
Combine the flour, almond meal, unsweetened cocoa, spices and baking powder giving them a bit of a stir about. Set aside.
Beat the butter in a large bowl until it is light and fluffy, then add the brown sugar and beat again until they are well combined and the mixture has taken on a lighter hue.
Add the golden syrup or light corn syrup and beat once more until combined. Crack in the egg and add the salt giving it all one final beat together until the mixture is quite fluffy.
Sift in the flour mixture into the creamed butter and sugar and push the leftover bits of unsweetened cocoa and almond meal through with the back of a spoon.
Using a spatula mix it all together well. You will think for a while it's too dry and that it wont come together but have faith, it will. When the mixture has darkened and looks mostly damp, get hand into it and mix it about, the warmth of your hand will bring it all together.
Keep kneading it until is is smooth. Transfer the dough onto a board and roll it into a log about 35 cms long. Cut the log in half, and each half in half and so on until you have eight pieces of roughly the same size.
Cut each of these in a cross shape to make a total of 32 cubes*. Form these into balls. Place the balls of chocolaty dough onto the lined trays with a little space between them (they wont spread too much) and pop them in the oven for about 12-15 minutes.
Their bases will have a slight tinge to them, but the biscuit colour will only have lightened a little. Remove from the oven, and leave on the tray to cool for about 5 minutes before transferring onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Additional Information

* If you're more able than me, you can avoid all the cutting and just pull off balls of the same size with your hands and roll them - I'd end up with some the size of cricket balls and others the size of peas so I find the cutting more effective.