Nancy Friesen slid a tray of gumdrop-size, cinnamon-scented cookies from one of the ovens at the Albany Mennonite Church, then used a spatula to send them tumbling off the tray onto the counter to cool.

“Welcome,” she said, “to peppernut heaven.”

Friesen and about a dozen volunteers converged on the church kitchen last week in preparation for the annual Oregon Mennonite Festival for World Relief, which takes place from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. this Saturday at the Linn County Fair & Expo Center.

Peppernut cookies — hard, crunchy, anise-flavored drops — will be on sale at the country store there, $3 for each two-cup bag. As with the rest of the festival, all proceeds go to the Mennonite Central Committee, the international relief, development and peace agency of North American Mennonites and Brethren in Christ.

Friesen usually invites the teen volunteers who come to Albany as part of their Service Adventure program to her home to make the peppernuts. This year, she enlisted the help of their host families, so the church kitchen provided a bigger venue.

Service Adventure volunteers Abraham Renteria, 18, of Keizer and Hans Hess, 18, of Goshen, Ind., teamed up with spatulas to spread out the mound of cookies, all varying shades of tan, so they could cool faster.

“We estimate about a million,” Renteria said, perfectly straight-faced.

That might not be far off, Friesen said. A regular batch of peppernuts makes about three-quarters of a gallon, or five bags’ worth of cookies. On Friday, she was expecting her group to fill between 30 and 50 bags.

“The nice thing about it is each recipe makes huge amounts,” she said.

Service Adventure is a volunteer program sponsored by the Mennonite church. It sends young people ages 17 to 20 to communities where they work for nearly a year as full-time volunteers.

The four volunteers stationed in the Albany area this year all said it was the first time any of them had made peppernuts. But all pitched in willingly to make pencil-width ropes of buff-colored dough, which they then cut into tiny sections to make the spicy treats.

n Learn to make your own peppernuts / A3

The event

What: 24th annual Oregon Mennonite Festival for World Relief.

When: 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13.

Where: Linn County Fair & Expo Center, 3700 Knox Butte Road.

Events: Antique, quilt and modern-item auction, children’s activities, home-baked goods, global gifts, garden shop, country store and more.

Admission: Free. All proceeds from the festival benefit relief projects around the world undertaken by the Mennonite Central Committee.

Information: www

.oregonmennofest.org

or www.mcc.org.