Peppermouse Cookies

Peppermouse CookiesHey, Whovians! I am finally getting around to publishing my Tardis Cookie Recipe!

This was kind of a Christmas cookie experiment that I played with one day when I was bored. I had had a soup in a Szechuan restaurant that included these spices, and I thought it would be an exotic variation on the German Pfeffernüsse. I needed a wacky recipe because I was making Tardis & Dalek cookies for work, and this seemed good.

Ingredients:

  • ½ cup solid shortening
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup dark molasses
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 1 tsp ginger
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp nutmeg
  • 1 tsp allspice
  • 1/3 tsp cloves
  • 1 tsp anise
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp Srirachi sauce
  • Sift in:
  • 4 cups flour (31/2 if not in Tennessee)
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ¼ tsp salt

Step 1, cream: Soften the shortening, then beat in the sugar. Add in the eggs, molasses and milk.

Step 2, spice it up: Mix in the various spices. Leave some out, if they don’t suit your fancy, or add some more, but I do wonder: if you don’t trust me, why are you reading my recipes?

Step 3, sifting: put the flour in a sifter and add the leavening & salt. Gradually stir this into the various wet ingredients. Mix well—it should be stiff, but sticky.

Step 4, chill overnight (always good advice): wrap in plastic and store in the refrigerator.

Step 5, roll and cut it and mark it with a tardis: Preheat the oven to 375. Roll the stiffened dough out on a floured surface, perhaps half at a time. Cut out in shapes (I prefer mice, but also have done Tardis (dredel cutters work) & Daleks (modified Christmas bells); ironic mustaches seem like a distinct possibility). Transfer onto a baking sheet. Bake at 375 for 12 minutes.

Step 6, cool & frost: Remove from pan while still warm, cool on a Dr Who Spice Cookieswire rack, and if you don’t know this should you really be in a kitchen unsupervised? I frosted these with a simple confectioner’s sugar frosting.