Our 8th Annual Peppernut Contest was held at the store on Saturday, December 9. I have to admit I was slightly blown away by the amount of entries this year! Last year we had a mere 3 people turn in peppernuts, and this year we had 21 separate entries by 15 individuals. Talk about exponential growth!!! Thank you to all who participated and to the judges who gave up their time to sample all of the delicious entries. We had Adam Strunk, editor for the Newton Now and Johanna Spencer, our store’s resident peppernut expert. Each entry was judged on 4 categories: Taste, Texture, Appearance & Uniformity. An overall score was also given to each entry. The winners were determined by adding up the scores and finding those that had the highest average score.
If anyone would like to volunteer for the job of judge next year, just let me know. We like to have different people every year due to the vastly differing opinions on what makes a great peppernut.
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The winners from this year’s contest were
1st place–Kathy Loewen
2nd place (tie)–Tami Lakey & Kathy Balzer
3rd place–Elaine Schmidt (incidentally this was our 21st entry to the contest that arrived just as they were starting, and I’m so glad she made it in)
Each winner was awarded a gift card to the store and bragging rights to all of their friends and family for the next year.
Here are the recipes we had turned in from the contest. If you had an entry but didn’t turn in a recipe and would like to, just drop it by the store or email it to us and I’ll add it to the page.
8th Annual Peppernut Contest Recipes
1st Place Winner
Peppernuts
Kathy Loewen
1 c. butter
4 c. brown sugar
1 T. baking soda (in 1 T. hot water)
1 t. salt
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. ground cloves
1 t. nutmeg
1 t. anise seed
4 eggs
6½ c. flour
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and baking soda/water mixture. Mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix. Roll dough into ½” “snakes” and freeze. Slice ¼” thick. Bake at 350° for about 10 minutes.
3rd Place Winner
Melt in Your Mouth Peppernuts
Elaine Schmidt
1 c. butter
1½ c. sugar
1 egg
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. cloves
1 t. ginger
1 t. nutmeg
2 t. baking soda
2 T. dark corn syrup
3¾ c. flour
1 t. anise oil
Mix dry ingredients. Add to butter, sugar, and egg. Roll into small rolls and chill. Cut and put on cookie sheet. Bake at 350° for 7-8 minutes.
Gluten-Free Anise Peppernuts
Gladys Weinbrenner Voth
1½ c. sugar
1 c. non-dairy butter
1 egg
2 T. corn syrup
½ t. anise oil OR 2 t. anise extract
3 c. gluten-free flour blend that contains sorghum flour
¾ c. sweet rice flour
1½ t. guar gum
2 t. baking soda
2 t. cinnamon
2 t. cloves
1 t. ground ginger
Preheat oven to 375°. Place parchment paper onto baking sheet.
Beat eggs, sugar, and non-dairy butter until creamy, 2-3 minutes. Stir in syrup, anise, and guar gum.
In another bowl, stir together gluten-free flour blend, sweet rice flour, baking soda, and spices. Gradually add the flour mixture into the liquid ingredients.
On plastic cutting board, place a fist-sized amount of dough. If needed, use a sprinkling of gluten-free flour. Lightly roll into dime-sized ropes. Slice into ½ inch pieces. Place dough balls one inch apart on baking sheet, to allow peppernuts to expand. Bake for 5-7 minutes. Cool.
These crisp peppernuts keep in covered containers. Makes about ten cups of peppernuts.
Dark Peppernuts
Zelly Walker
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. dark syrup
¾ c. butter
¾ c. sour cream
1-2 eggs
¼ c. milk
1 ½ t. anise oil
½ t. cardamom
½ t. cloves
1 t. cinnamon
¾ t. ginger
1 t. baking soda
7 c. flour
Roll out, refrigerate dough overnight. Roll into pencil size ropes, cut into slices (¼”). Bake at 375° about 7-10 minutes.
Peppernuts
Zelly Walker
3 c. white sugar
3 c. brown sugar
¾ c. melted butter
½ c. melted lard
2 eggs, beaten well
Mix and add ¾ c. hot water
In another bowl mix:
7 c. flour
Pinch of salt
2 tsp. Ginger
2 tsp. Cinnamon
2 tsp. Cloves
1 tsp. Baking powder
2 tsp. Anise oil
Combine mixtures. Roll. Bake at 375° for 15 min.
Simple Peppernut Recipe
Zelly Walker
“I always dreaded the time it took to make my regular peppernuts. Then a few years ago a friend gave me this recipe. I find it much simpler, “ says Mrs. Herberts Scmidt, formerly of Newton Kans., now of Asuncion, Paraguay.”
1 ½ c. sugar
1 c. margarine or butter
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp. Soda
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1 tsp. Cloves
1 tsp. Ginger
½ tsp. Oil of anise
2 T white Syrup
3 ½ c. flour
