Italian Christmas Cookies

My grandmother was an amazing baker. One giant regret I have is not spending as much time with her in the kitchen watching her bake and cook as I wish I did. During Christmas especially she spent weeks and weeks baking cookies, making fudge and even loukoumades (YUM). I remember one Christmas she made a gingerbread house that was big enough to fit 10 of my Barbie’s inside.

All her treats were delicious and I think she made about 30 different kinds a year. The most I’ve ever made during the Christmas season was 17, which sounds impressive, unless you were ever in her kitchen (or my aunt’s she really carries on her mom baking and cooking legacy to a T).

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My favorite flavor of cookies she made were Italian Christmas Cookies, or anise cookies, it’s just something about the smell of anise that really brings me back to being in her house with her. Hopefully you enjoy these cookies as much as I do, and just because it’s not Christmas, doesn’t mean you can’t make them now!

Italian Christmas Cookies

Ingredients

COOKIES

• 5 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups butter, melted and cooled (about 10 minutes)
• 5 cups flour
• 1 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 TBS lemon extract

ICING

• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 3-4 TBS milk
• a drop of anise extract to taste
• sprinkles

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs. Add the melted & cooled butter and whisk to blend. Set the bowl aside
2. In a large bowl add the flour, sugar and baking powder together. At this point, I always pour my dough out onto my clean work surface and make a well to add the wet ingredients. That’s not a necessity though, and if you do, make sure it’s not too close to the edge or when you start mixing and kneading the dough it will leak out and spill all over the floor. You can always make a well in the center of the dry ingredients in a bowl and then add in the egg mixture, vanilla and the lemon extract. Keep kneading the dough until it looks shiny, about 2 minutes.
3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes
4. Heat your oven to 350*
5. Form the dough into tablespoon-sized balls and set them on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake on the center oven rack until golden brown around the edges, about 12 minutes. If you want crispier cookies you can leave them in for 2 more minutes, but keep an eye on them so they don’t burn!
6. Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack and let cool completely before frosting
7. For the Icing: in a small bowl, combine the confectioners sugar, milk and anise extract. Stir with a wooden spoon and brush the top of each cooled cookie with the icing and immediately apply sprinkles.