Smells like Christmas

Today I started doing a little Christmas baking with Brielle. I've been searching for a good recipe for Peppernuts for over a year now. The ones that I made last year were good but not what I was looking for. I remember them being tiny little cookies (nut size...hence the name) that were full of wonderful spices and were crunchy. I think I finally found that recipe. I found it in an old Mennonite cookbook so the directions are quite vague, but I think I have it figured out. Some of these Mennonite recipes don't list flour in the ingredients, they just say in the directions to add flour until dough is easy to handle. OK! What if you add too much or not enough? One persons description of "easy to handle" may not be the same as anothers. Whatever! Crazy Mennonites. :) Anyways, I thought I'd share the recipe with you. Remember this is a Mennonite recipe....so it makes an insane amount of tiny little cookies....

Peppernuts

2 cups White sugar
2 cups Syrup (I used Rogers golden...I know these are sounding extremely healthy already)
1 cup Butter
3/4 cup Milk
1 tsp. Baking soda
1 Tbsp. Vinegar
1 tsp. Pepper (freshly ground is ALWAYS the best)
1 tsp. Cinnamon (those that know me well, know that I doubled this)
1/2 tsp. Cloves
1 tsp. Nutmeg
2 tsp. Staranise (Impossible to find, I left it out)
8 Cups Flour

Melt Butter. Mix sugar, syrup, butter and milk. Add soda and Vinegar. Sift flour and spices. Add to first mixture. Mix well. It should be a fairly hard dough. Set in a cold place for several hours (I left it in the fridge overnight). Roll in thin rolls (approx. 1/4 inch - 1/2 inch thick) and slice into little squares (again around 1/4 inch - 1/2 inch thick). Bake at 425 F. for 10-12 minutes. (I personally found this to be too long, I think my oven is a little hotter than most. I baked mine for around 8-9 minutes).
Enjoy. They take a little while to make but are not difficult to make what-so-ever!

Merry Christmas everyone!