My family LOVES traditions. My memories of childhood are filled with doing the same traditions year over year: visiting Chicago yearly (sometimes twice a year… love that city!), going to the same apple orchards in the fall for 25 years, the built-in traditions of the Lutheran church service and calendar. The biggest traditions, however, always centered around Christmastime. I grew up opening presents on Christmas Eve, preceded by my dad reading the King James version of the birth of Jesus. We fit these in between the multiple Christmas Eve services my family attended because we were always involved in the choir or some part of the service, at every service, every year. We also had a special Candlelight Dinner we’d eat before the services every year. We would sing to the church as a family on Christmas morning before the service, too. For me, many of our Christmas traditions were inextricably tied to worshipping the birth of Jesus and we continue that today in my own family with some of these same traditions.
Less church services though, and for that I am thankful. My kids are, too. Sorry, Mom.
Another tradition we have continued through the years is making the pfeffernüsse cookie (pronounced “fefferndoose-uh”). My dad grew up in a Mennonite German community in California, and one family recipe from that community has endured through the years: the Funke Family pfeffernüsse cookie. Heavy on flour, light on anise, with hints of cinnamon and allspice, this heavy dough is rolled out to resemble finger-width snakes and cut into bite-size pieces before being baked. You can imagine how fun it was to make them as a kid! Ask any of my girls now, and they’ll tell you it’s still a ton of fun to make these cookies, and eating them is pretty satisfying, too.
To say I maintain a strong affinity for this cookie is an understatement. Clearly, the holidays mean a lot to me. Since my dad died eight years ago, the traditions of my youth that my family has maintained have taken on special layers of meaning and this cookie is no different. It was a revelatory experience for me when I realized that I had the ability to recreate the essence of this cookie as a tea powder blend. I felt I could honor my dad and that Mennonite community in a whole new way that carries forward to new generations.
I took a few liberties spice-wise with this spice palate, specifically by adding clove and nutmeg to really bring out more flavor. Neither of those are in the original recipe which relies on allspice. This tea is very different from the masala chai in that there is no ‘punch’ of spice here; it’s a subtle tea with subtle flavors that hits differently. The anise is not too much so it does not taste like black licorice, but hopefully the hint of it helps transform this tea and creates a unique, but still pleasant, experience for the drinker.
There are other pfeffernüsse cookies out there, but they are often different than my family’s recipe. “Pfeffernüsse” is German for “pepper nut” and you can often find pfeffernüsse cookies at Christkindlmarkets and likely at Aldi during the holiday season, but they are closer to a gingerbread-like cookie, larger in form, and covered in a white frosting. That is not the pfeffernüsse cookie of my youth, or what my chai powder blend is made to represent, but it is a tasty cookie nonetheless. You should try it out any way you can find it!
As always, I am grateful for the community of folks who have taken a chance on my small business and who are willing to try these new tea blends. My pfeffernüsse chai is definitely the most ambitious blend I have created and it is absolutely a different journey to drink, but I love it and I hope you will, too. I call it a warm holiday cookie in a mug because that’s what I made it to be! Enjoy, and as always feel free to chai your own way with any of our Midwest Chai tea powder blends.
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