ITALIAN COOKIES WITH ANISE RECIPES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400˚F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. 
• Add flour and baking powder to a medium mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes.
• Beat in eggs one at a time, add anise extract, optional anise seeds, and mix until well blended.
• Add the flour mixture a little at a time, and mix until well blended. The dough will be soft and sticky.
• Drop rounded tablespoons of dough 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets.
• Bake 5 to 7 minutes until the bottoms are golden and the cookie springs back when pressed with your finger.
• Remove the cookies from the baking sheets to cooling racks to cool.
• To make the glaze, whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, and anise extract in a medium bowl until smooth.
• Place the cooling rack of cookies on the cookie sheet to catch the extra sprinkles.
• Dip the tops of cookies into the glaze, return to cooling rack, and sprinkle tops with candy sprinkles right away while the glaze is still wet. Let the cookies set until the glaze hardens. 
• Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks or freeze for up to a month (see note below). Yield: 32 cookies.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• For cookies, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition. Add anise extract.
• Blend flour and baking powder. Start by adding about 1/3 of these dry ingredients to the butter/sugar in your mixer, then add 1 T. milk. Add another third of the flour and another 1 T. milk. Finally, mix in enough of the remaining flour until your dough is like a brownie batter (it should be softer than a drop cookie dough).
• Use a 1 T. cookie scooper to make simple round drop cookies - use wet fingers to pat any rough edges OR for an Easter-Egg look, roll 1 T. dough into an elongated ball.
• Bake cookies 10-12 minutes (they won't be brown but the insides will be soft and cake-like).
• For icing: mix sugar, milk and extract to make a sugar glaze. HINT: When I make the icing, I make it thick but then I microwave it for 10 seconds so it is thin enough for dipping. Also, I like to divide the mixture in thirds, and then add ONE DROP of food coloring to each batch (pink, green, yellow).
• Hold cookie in your hand and turn upside down so you can dip the top half in the glaze; turn over and immediately top with sprinkles so they will stick.
• Allow icing to harden overnight; then store in air-tight containers or freeze.