Soft anise cookies are my absolute favorite cookie to eat at Christmastime. This anise recipe is an authentic Swiss-German recipe passed down in the Hufford family for generations. It came from my great-grandmother, Gladys Hufford’s mother, and is an annual tradition for my family around the holidays. Gladys said about these anise cookies, “We always made this kind of cookie when I was little. We decorated them with icing and red and green colored sugar. Also chocolate frosting. My mother was German. We always had lots of good things for Christmas.”
I encourage you to give these cookies a try, even if you’re not a fan of other foods with licorice flavoring. There’s something about the combination of the buttercream that mellows out the anise flavor to make it perfectly pleasant. They are completely different from any food (baked, candy, beverage, or otherwise) with anise flavoring.
Cookie Ingredients:
5 eggs, large
1 lb powdered sugar
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
4 cups AP flour (480g)
½ teaspoon anise oil (not extract)
Frosting Ingredients:
1 lb powdered sugar
½ cup salted butter, melted
1-2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla paste or extract
Food coloring (optional)
Granulated sugar for decoration (optional)
Equipment:
Stand mixer
Parchment paper
Cookie sheets (2)
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Prepare two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
To make the cookies, beat the eggs for 10 minutes until light and foamy, using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Add the powdered sugar and beat for 10 more minutes. Stir in the anise oil, followed by the remaining dry ingredients. Only mix the ingredients briefly, just long enough to incorporate all of the dry bits. Let the dough rest in the fridge for fifteen minutes.
On a floured work surface, roll out half the dough to ⅜” thickness. Cut with cookie cutters and place cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Keep everything well-floured because this dough likes to stick to the countertop. I use a small offset spatula to coax unwilling cookies to the baking tray. Add leftover dough scraps to the other half of the dough and follow the same procedure to roll out and cut the cookies.
Bake the cookies for about twelve to fifteen minutes, rotating the tray halfway through. The bake time will depend on your oven and the size of your cutouts. In my oven, the larger round cookie takes the full fifteen minutes. When baked, the cookies should be set, but not browned.
To make the frosting, beat together sugar, butter, milk, and vanilla until smooth. If necessary, add more milk until the frosting is the proper consistency. I usually end up using 2 tablespoons. If you are going to add food coloring, divide the frosting evenly into the compartments of a muffin tin and mix in your desired colors. This year, I went for a white-on-white palette. I piped the plain buttercream onto the cookies, dipped them in plain white granulated sugar, and then piped royal icing snowflakes on the top.
Notes:
Make sure to use anise oil, not anise extract. I have used Virginia Dare Anise Oil and LorAnn Anise Oil, and both work very well. It will smell and taste pretty strong in the dough, but it will mellow once baked.
Yes, you do have a total mixing time of twenty minutes on this cookie. Don’t skip it. It’s tradition and it is responsible for the amazing, soft texture of these cookies.
THE FOOD ÉTUDE 