Italian Anise Cookies
Italian Anisette
Anise Cookies
The most delicious, authentic Italian Anise Cookies recipe you will find. These cookies are perfect any time of the year! I know they are traditional served around the holidays but we make them all the time!
For the cookies:
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
½ cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp anise extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
For the icing-
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp milk
3-4 tbsp nonpareils sprinkles
Instructions
Begin by creaming together butter and sugar.
Slowly add eggs and anise. Mix until fully combined.
Next, add flour and baking powder and mix until a cookie dough forms.
Wrap cookie dough in plastic and chill for one hour.
Once time is up, remove cookie dough from refrigerator. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Roll cookie dough into spheres, about 1-inch in diameter. Space cookies at least 2 inches apart from each other (you may have to bake in batches).
Bake for about 8-10 minutes, until bottoms are lightly browned.
Allow for the cookies to cool down.
In a small bowl, whisk together powdered sugar and milk.
Dip the top of each cooled cookie into the powdered sugar and milk mixture. Sprinkle with nonpareils sprinkles.
Serve and enjoy!
How to Bake in Batches to Make the Most of Your Baking Time
One way to handle your holiday baking is to bake in batches, then freeze and store for the big day. You can do this successfully over a couple of weeks with batch baking and batch preparing.
The biggest thing to remember is to only try a few different types of things in one day, or focus on just one type of baked good in one day. For example, you might want to bake all your quick breads in one day. Another day you can prepare all your cookie dough. Yet another time, you can bake all your fruit pies and so forth. This process makes the most of the time you have, the space you have, and your skill level.
Be Prepared
Don’t try batch baking without a plan of action. Be sure to write down your plans in advance so that you are sure you have enough time to do everything that you’ve planned. To figure out a basic time line, add up the prep time, the baking time for each oven full, and then multiply that by 1.5 to account for a little extra issues happening. Then you should be sure that you have enough time.
Get Everything Ready to Go
Your kitchen should be spotless when you start, and ensure that you have all the ingredients and appliances necessary to make each item ready to go. If you know, for example, that today you’ll be using about 10 pounds of flour, consider using a large bowl to hold the flour so you can easily spoon the flour into the measuring cup, flatten off over the bowl, without having to get into the bag over and over which usually means spillage.
Clean as You Go
Fill your sink immediately with hot soapy water so you can clean as you go. You will want to wash your mixing dishes and other utensils during the baking process so that you can use them again. There’s no point in totally destroying your kitchen as you batch bake, and you don’t have to. Set out a draining board, fill the sink with hot soapy water, and wash as you go. There are many opportunities during baking to wash a couple of dishes, and this will make the clean-up faster, and the process more organized.
All Day Batch Baking
You can set aside a day for batch baking such as a Saturday. Plan for all day baking, which usually entails 8 to 10 hours of work. Ensure that any other chores are done, including the shopping, and the kitchen is clean and ready prior to baking day. It’s important to organize your recipes with some logic behind them. For example, if you need dough to rise, start that first, so that it can be rising as you are preparing other things such as cookie dough or pie crusts. Both can be put in the refrigerator or freezer after preparation while you bake the bread, then baked after you bake the bread while the oven is still hot and ready.
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