Italian Anise Cookies are a timeless holiday tradition. They are soft and flavored with the warm, slightly spicy, spice of anise. These pillowy cookies usually have a simple icing and festive sprinkles on top. This makes them a splendid choice for Christmas cookie trays, weddings, and special family gatherings. So if you are looking for an old-fashioned Italian cookie, this is an easy to make and full of nostalgic charm recipe.
My version of soft Italian anise cookies is a great try-me recipe since it only makes 18 cookies. This way, you can adjust anything to make it your own, and you are only out of an hour of your time and few pantry ingredients. I found a great article from HeathLine.com about the star anise that I hope you will find interesting. It is always fun to read about the star ingredient of a cookie.
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Why You'll Love These Italian Anise Cookies
- Soft, cakey texture
- Sweet, light anise flavor
- Easy to make icing and to decorate
- Perfect for holidays, weddings, and special occasions
Ingredients You Will Need
For the Anise Cookie
- Butter unsalted
- Sugar white
- Eggs
- Anise extract
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
For the Simple Icing
- Milk
- Whole star anise
- Powdered sugar
- Nonpareil sprinkles
Ingredients Notes and Tips
- Anise extract vs anise seeds - Both have the licorice-like flavor, but in baking this cookie you would have to ground the seeds to add to the cookie batter and would be hard to adjust the amount of flavor in your cookie. So the anise extract is a more precise in flavor and easier to control the amount.
- Best flour for this type of cookie - I know since these cookies have a cakey texture, you might think you should use cake flour, but you really need to use all-purpose flour. My favorite is King Arthur All-Purpose Flour.
How to Make Anise-Flavored Cookies
These glazed anise cookies are pretty easy to make and the cookie dough doesn't need chilled, so the time to mix, roll and bake is about an hour.
Prep
Measure or weigh the sugar into a small bowl and set it aside. In another bowl, weigh or measure the flour. Add to the flour the baking powder and run a whisk through to blend. I also put the milk into a small cup and add the star anise so it has time to infuse the milk.
Mixing
1. Cube the butter to make sure it is room temperature. It is easier to cream the butter.
2. It should only take about a minute on a medium mixer speed to produce creamy peaks of butter in the bowl.
3. Time to add all the sugar and mix on a medium mixer speed for 3 minutes.
4. I scrape down the mixer bowl sides and then turn the mixer back on for another minute.
5. I break each egg into a small cup first to make sure there are no egg shells that could get into my cookie dough. Incorporate each egg before adding another.
6. With 3 eggs, the mixture will look really runny. Now. add about half of the flour mixture and blend for about 15 seconds before adding the other half. Scrape down the bowl and finish blending with a spatula.
Tip!
- If the cookie dough is tacky, lightly flour hands to form the balls
- Don't over bake — they should be soft and pale looking
- The colored nonpareil can bleed, which I like, but if this is for a wedding, the white ones might work best.
Scoop and Bake
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C or 180°C). Add parchment paper to 2 cookie sheet pans and grab a medium cookie scooper.
7. Using the cookie scooper, try to get the same amount of cookie dough for each ball. I make my balls about 1 ¼ to 1 ½ inches across and place 9 on a sheet pan. To me, what makes these so special is that they are a little organic and not perfectly round.
8. Bake at 350°F (175°C or 180°C) for 9-11 minutes. Move them to a cooling rack once they are out of the oven.
They will look cracked, but as they cool, the cracks become smaller.
Glaze and Decorate
9. Very simple icing to glaze the cookies. Weigh or measure the powdered sugar into a bowl large enough to use a whisk to mix the icing. Next, take the anise stars out of the milk and add it to the powdered sugar and whisk.
Now the thickness of the glaze is up to you, and I am showing a thicker glaze next to a cookie with a thinner glaze.
With the 3-4 tablespoons of anise milk.
With 1-2 added tablespoons of plain milk to thin it out.
10. Dip the top part of the cookie into the glaze and I swirl it around. The more cookies you dip you will have to tilt the bowl to cover the tops.
See, most of the cracks are filled in by the glaze.
11. Finally, sprinkle the nonpareils sprinkle on top of the glaze.
Some nonpareils will bleed into the glaze, but it just spreads the color around the cookie.
Enjoy!
FAQ's
You can leave it off, or if you have a favorite glaze or icing, you can certainly try it. A nice vanilla glaze would work nicely. Understand that the nonpareils need something to stick to.
It is in the licorice-type flavors, but it is not like the licorice candy that you can get. It is a more gentle and sweet, slightly spicy but not overpowering.
More Italian Cookie Favorites
Recipe
Italian Anise Cookies
Barbara HallWould you like to save this recipe?
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Ingredients
COOKIES
- ½ cup (113.5 g) Butter unsalted room temperature
- ½ cup (100 g) Sugar white
- 3 large Eggs
- 2 teaspoons Anise extract
- 2 ¼ cup (281.25 g) All-purpose flour
- 2 ¼ teaspoons (9 g) Baking powder
ICING
- 4 Tablespoons Milk
- 4 Whole star anise
- 2 cups (240 g) Powdered sugar
- As needed Nonpareils sprinkles
Instructions
- In a small bowl, weigh or measure the sugar and set aside. In another bowl, weigh or measure the flour, baking powder and run a whisk through to blend. Add the milk to a small cup and add the star anise so it has time to infuse the flavor.
- Using a mixer cream the butter for a minute on a medium mixer speed. Add the sugar and mix for 3 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and mix for another minute. Add the Anise extract and crack one egg into a small bowl to make sure there are no shells. Incorporate each egg before adding the next egg, and repeat until all 3 eggs are added.
- Scrape down sides and across the bottom to make sure all the butter-sugar mixture is mixed with the eggs. Turn the mixer to low and add about half the flour mixture. Mix for 15 seconds and then add the remaining flour. Using a spatula, scrape down the sides to make sure everything is mixed.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C or 180°C) Line 2 cookie sheet pans with parchment paper. I lightly flour my hands to make it easier to create the cookie balls. Taking a medium cookie scoop, I scoop out my cookie dough and roll it into a ball about 1-¼ to 1-½ inches across; you want about the same size for all the cookie balls. I put 9 balls on to a prepared sheet pan. Bake for 9-11 minutes. After pulling the cookies out of the oven, move them to a cooling rack.
ICING
- In a bowl, add the powdered sugar and the infused milk whisking until blended. After you dip the first cookie, you can adjust the icing thickness by adding more powdered sugar to make it thicker or a little thinner by adding a small amount of milk. Take the top of your cookie, dip it into the icing, and return it to the cooling rack. Sprinkle on top of the icing some nonpareils sprinkles. Enjoy!
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NUTRITION DISCLAIMER
I am not a certified Dietitian or Nutritionist. The nutrition amounts given below are provided through a program and are only a guideline.
JulsR. says
I just love this recipe! The star anise may showboat but overall, simplicity is the variable I enjoyed working with. If you like a time investment that matches your talents.... well enough said.
Barbara says
Hi JulsR, I love your comment, I did chuckle so thank you for ending my night in such a perfect way. Happy Holidays! - Barbara