Original recipe (adapted from anise version)

Servings: 26 cookies

Equipment

Ingredients

For the Dough

For the Icing

Steps

Making the Cookies

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl for 2-3 minutes until smooth and creamy.
3. Add the eggs and beat well using a hand or stand mixer, until the mixture is light and looks frothy.
4. Add milk and extract per your chosen variation (2 ½ tsp vanilla or 2 ½ tsp almond) and mix in until combined.
5. Add 3 cups of flour (measured using the spoon-and-level method), baking powder, and salt to a separate bowl and whisk until evenly combined.
6. In 2-3 increments, add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients, mixing in until just combined.
7. The dough will be very sticky. If needed, add in additional flour one tablespoon at a time, until you can roll a cookie’s worth of dough between your palms without too much sticking. Wetting your palms may help reduce the sticking as you form a ball. You may need up to an additional ¼ cup (4 tbsp) during this time, but likely less.
8. Using a 1 ½-tablespoon capacity cookie scoop, scoop dough and roll between your palms to form balls. Some of the dough will stick inside the scoop but that’s okay. Place dough balls equally-spaced on the baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between one another.
9. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until cookies are very lightly brown on the bottom. Cracks in the surface are normal and expected. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Making the Icing

1. Once cookies have cooled completely, whisk together 2 cups confectioners’ sugar, 3 tablespoons milk, and ¼ teaspoon extract (matching your chosen cookie flavor).
2. Working in batches, dip the tops of each anise cookie into the glaze, and then sprinkle nonpareils over top.
3. Let glaze harden completely before storing or serving.

Notes

Flavor Variations

This recipe works with two extract variations:

• Vanilla Version: 2 ½ tsp vanilla extract in dough; ¼ tsp vanilla extract in icing
• Almond Version: 2 ½ tsp almond extract in dough; ¼ tsp almond extract in icing

Icing Consistency

The icing should be fairly thick. If it’s running off the cookies or looking translucent, add additional confectioners’ sugar to the icing until it reaches the right consistency.

Storage Instructions

Store cookies in an air-tight container at room temperature with parchment paper between layers. It’s normal for the rainbow nonpareil coloring to bleed onto the icing as time goes by. Storing cookies in the refrigerator slows down color bleeding, but can make the cookies themselves a bit drier.

Make Ahead

Bake cookies and store or freeze them without icing. Thaw them fully before icing later on.

Freshest Flavor

Make sure your extracts are reasonably fresh for the best flavor, especially if you don’t bake with them all that often. An older bottle still within the “best by” date can have a muted, less impactful flavor.

Additional Flour Tips

Once three cups of flour have been mixed into the dough, poke the dough and see how it is. Likely it’ll be pretty sticky, so work in additional flour one tablespoon at a time until the stickiness has been reduced. You’ll want the dough to be able to roll between your hands with minimal sticking. The ball of dough should be relatively smooth without sticky “spikes”. Additional flour needed ranges from none to an extra quarter-cup, depending upon the conditions.

Hand Kneading

The cookie dough is fairly thick. If using a hand mixer, it will likely be easier to hand knead in the additional tablespoon(s) of flour rather than contend with the beaters.

Ice in Batches

Dunk then decorate several cookies (around 3-4) at a time to prevent the icing from hardening before you get a chance to add the nonpareils.

Freezing

You can freeze sprinkled and glazed anise cookies, though you will see a small amount of nonpareil color bleeding. Not enough to be off-putting or an issue. Remove cookies from the freezer the day you’d like to serve them and let them thaw at room temperature for a few hours.

Why Cookies May Be Dry

These cookies can be dry if they’re overbaked and/or if too much flour is added to the dough. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, measure flour using the spoon-and-level method. First stir/whisk the flour in its canister to fluff it up. Then spoon it into the measuring cup, taking care not to pack it down. Once the measuring cup is overflowing, use a knife or the straight edge of the spoon to level off the top.