Many Norwegian cookies, pastries and cakes are basically very buttery with perhaps a hint of almond or cardamon. Just as the Germans added diversity in the local farm communities when they first immigrated, they added a great contrast to the sweets of Christmas.

Pfeffernusse is a small, spicy cookie that has the flavors of brown sugar, anise, cinnamon, ginger, cardamon, cloves and even white pepper melded into a tasty, crunchy cookie perfect for dipping in a strong cup of coffee. Even though I personally don’t like anise flavor by itself, the spice flavors all together are amazing!

The person who made the best Pfeffernusse when I was a child was our Norwegian neighbor, Grandma W. She had come to live in our area and had married a very German farmer. Her husband loved Pfeffernusse so, of course, she learned to make his favorite cookies!

Another German-influenced cookie of my childhood was a Sally Ann cookie. This cookie was rolled out and traditionally cut with a SPAM can into a rounded rectangular shape. The soft cakelike cookie is a mellower ginger flavor which children are more likely to enjoy. After baking and cooling, the cookies are frosted with a frosting made with marshmallows, egg white and powdered sugar. The frosting dries with a flat matte finish, perfect for decorating.

I like to add various greetings in assorted languages, all of which mean "Merry Christmas." I use a buttercream decorating frosting which dries with a crust so the cookies can be stacked. Below are the recipes for each of the cookies as well as some step by step photos of the cookies.

Pfeffernusse Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) of butter (room temperature)

1 ½ cups dark brown sugar (light brown can be used, but dark brown has more flavor)

2 large eggs (room temperature)

2 ½ teaspoons anise extract

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon ground white pepper (this is milder than black pepper)

½ teaspoon ground cardamom

½ teaspoon ground cloves

3 ½ cups flour

Directions:

Step 1: Cream together the butter and brown sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy, scraping the bowl occasionally for about 3 minutes.

Step 2: Add eggs, anise extract, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, white pepper, cardamom and cloves. Mix until everything is incorporated.

Step 3: Add the flour and mix just until it is incorporated. (Do not overmix).

Step 4: Spread out a piece of plastic wrap and press the dough down to about an inch thick rectangle. Wrap tightly and chill for at ;east 30 minutes, but preferably longer—up to 3 days.

Step 5: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Step 6: Divide the dough into 16 pieces. Roll one of the pieces of dough into a rope with a ½ inch diameter.

Step 7: Cut the rope of dough about ½ inch thick and place the cookies on a cookie sheet about an inch apart.

Step 8: Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes until golden brown. The cookies will be slightly soft when they first come out of the oven, but will become crispy as they cool.

Step 9: Store the cookies in metal tins in a cool place. (Grandma W. always stored hers on the enclosed porch of her little cottage in Minnesota.) The cookies will become even tastier, the longer they age.

Step 10: Optionally, if desired you can shake the Pfeffernusse in a baggie with powdered sugar right before serving.

Check out the step-by-step pictures for making Pfeffernusse below!

1. Pfeffernusse dough wrapped and ready to refrigerate for a couple days.

2. Cut the chilled Pfeffernusse dough into 16 pieces.

3. Roll the Pfeffernusse dough piece into a 1/2 inch diameter rope and cut cookies 1/2 inch thick. Place on cookie sheets an inch apart.

4. Pfeffernusse cookies ready for the cookie sheet.

5. Pfeffernusse cookies ready to bake.

6. Pfeffernusse cookies cooling after baking,

7. Finished Pfeffernusse ready to eat.

Sally Ann Cookies Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1 cup shortening

2 eggs

1 cup dark molasses

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon salt

4 rounded teaspoons baking soda

1 cup sour milk (I use a tablespoon of lemon juice to sour the milk)

1 tablespoon of cinnamon

1 tablespoon of ginger

5 ½ cups of flour

Directions:

Step 1: Cream together the sugar and shortening in a stand mixer.

Step 2: Add the eggs, molasses, cream of tartar, salt, baking soda, sour milk, cinnamon and ginger. Mix well.

Step 3: Add the flour and mix until it’s incorporated.

Step 4: Chill covered for a couple hours.

Step 5: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Step 6: Flour your work surface and your rolling pin and roll out the cookies to about ¼ to ½ inch thick. The dough is soft; you may need to roll in extra flour as you make the cookies.

Step 7: If you want authentic Sally Ann cookies, you will need to purchase a can of SPAM, use the meat and wash up the can. Use the can upside down to cut out the cookies. You will be able to cut the dough quite close and as a result will not need to reroll many scraps as you make more cookies.

Step 8: Bake the cookies for 10 minutes.

Step 9: Remove the cookies immediately from the cookie sheets and place on cooling racks.

Sally Ann Frosting Recipe

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

½ cup water

½ teaspoon vinegar

20 marshmallows

2 egg whites (put in after the marshmallows have melted)

1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

Step 1: Heat all the ingredients except the egg whites in a double boiler which has water in the lower level over a medium heat.

Step 2: After the marshmallows are melted, add the egg whites and beat with a portable electric mixer for 7 minutes while still heating over medium heat in the double boiler.

Step 3: Remove from heat and add 1 cup powdered sugar and heat well.

Step 4: Frost the cookies using a table knife or frosting spatula. Let dry. If you want to add decorations, use the frosting below and decorating tips and tubes.

Cookie Decorator Frosting Recipe

Ingredients:

½ cup butter

½ cup shortening

6 cups powdered sugar

4 teaspoons clear vanilla extract

½ cup heavy cream

Directions:

Step 1: Cream butter and shortening. It is essential to use the shortening if you want the frosting to dry so cookies can be stacked.

Step 2: Add the vanilla extract. It is better to use clear extract so the colors stay true.

Step 3: Slowly add the powdered sugar and cream alternately.

Step 4: Beat well and color bowls of frosting with paste food color. You will have leftover frosting that can be used on other cookies. I Like to make extra so I don’t run out of a color while I’m decorating.

Step 5: Load your decorating tubes and use a small round tip to write. A leaf tip and drop flower tip can be used to make flowers.

Merry Christmas in other languages:

• Spanish: Feliz Navidad
• French: Joyeux Noël
• German: Frohe Weihnachten
• Norwegian: God Jul
• Italian: Buon Natale

Check out the step-by-step pictures for making Sally Ann Cookies below!

1. A Spam can is traditionally used to cut Sally Ann cookies.

2. The can shape makes it easy to fit cookies close together and cut down on rerolling scraps.

3. Sally Ann cookies ready to bake.

4. Baked Sally Ann cookies cooled and ready for frosting.

5. Frosted Sally Ann cookies need to dry before decorating further.

6. The frosting for Sally Ann cookies is soft and easy to spread.

7. Decorating the Sally Ann cookies with “Merry Christmas” in assorted languages.

8. The finished Merry Christmas cookies ready to serve.

Enjoy the addition of the spicy German Christmas Cookies to your cookie platters. Don’t add these cookies until right before serving. If you’re making platters as gifts, package these cookies in ziploc baggies to keep them from flavoring the other cookies. Merry Christmas, God Jul and Frohe Weihnachten to you all!