Italian Anise Cookies With Icing And Sprinkles

Total Time: 1 hr 10 mins Preparation Time: 40 mins Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 40
• 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

Recipe

• 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.