Italian Anise Cookies With Icing and Sprinkles

By CheeseDiva

These delicate cake-like cookies are glazed with icing and topped with colorful candy sprinkles. They have a mild anise flavoring, which is very typical of Italian baked goods. My family always served these cookies at holidays, weddings or special celebrations, but now that I know the recipe, I can enjoy them all year long!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons anise extract (or almond extract)
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (may need up to 3 cups)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 -3 tablespoons milk
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1/8 teaspoon anise extract
• food coloring
• decorative candy sprinkles

Preparation

Step 1

1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. 2 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. 3 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). 4 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. 5 Bake cookies 10-12 minutes (they won't be brown but the insides will be soft and cake-like). 6 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). 7 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. 8 Allow icing to harden overnight; then store in air-tight containers or freeze.