Pfefferneusse (German Spice Cookies)

Anyone who knows me can be certain of one thing: I love cookies.  I love to make cookies.  I love to eat cookies.  I even love to read recipes for new and exciting cookies.  So, naturally, with Germany being our country of the month, I felt it was only proper to make pfefferneusse, a German spice cookie traditionally made at Christmas.  Deck the halls and call me crazy, I figured they shouldn't just be cloistered away until the Christmas season.  Why not make them any time?!  So, that's what I did.  I made a batch of delectable, spicy gems and passed them out among family and friends.  And they were just as good as I remember them when my grandmother used to buy them from the store.  A little softer than the store-bought version, though, this recipe was quite serendipitous in its approach to making an "ethnic" classic an everyday treat.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup margarine
2 eggs
4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons anise extract
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup confectioners' sugar for dusting

Instructions:

1. Stir together the molasses, honey, shortening, and margarine in a saucepan over medium heat; cook and stir until creamy. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Stir in the eggs.
2. Combine the flour, white sugar, brown sugar, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, anise, cinnamon, baking soda, pepper, and salt in a large bowl. Add the molasses mixture and stir until thoroughly combines. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.
3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Roll the dough into acorn-sized balls. Arrange on baking sheets, spacing at least 1 inch apart.
4. Bake in preheated oven 10 to 15 minutes. Move to a rack to cool. Dust cooled cookies with confectioners' sugar.

(The original recipe came from this link:  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pfeffernusse-Cookies/Detail.aspx)