(Today, I had SUCCESS!! I have had failures before. Grandma’s Anise Cookie recipe is tricky. It has to be done with the right weather or they may fail. I have been watching the skies for a suitable day. Yesterday, I made the cookies. They rested overnight and I baked them this morning. They did not fail. The aroma overwhelmingly reminded us of dear Grandma.)
Before Baking
The "Frosted-Look" After Baking
As hints of winter settle on the landscape
And Jackie Frost blows icy bursts of air,
My eyes light on a box of old recipes
Which hold for me an heirloom treasure there.
Grandma’s Anise Cookes fresh-baked from her home,
A sweet-smelling treat from her mother’s heart
Handed down to her in Christmas tradition
For children yet to come – a baker’s art.
From memories I behold good times far away;
Grandma’s Christmas – a decorated scene.
Packages all wrapped with tender, loving care.
Tables dressed in bright red and in green.
Grandma thanked God her kids gathered home.
I felt her hug, her kiss; she held my hand.
I’ll remember her at Christmas any time anywhere
When for my fam’ly I bake bread and…
Grandma’s Anise Cookies fresh-baked from my home;
A sweet-smelling treat from her mother’s heart
Handed down to me in Christmas tradition
For children yet to come – a baker’s art.
photo credit:Wenda Grabau
photo credit:Wenda Grabau
For more information on Anise cookies, see “Making Anise Cookies.”
MMMMM….They look so delicious! I can taste them!! So so good…
Yes, I baked them twice and both were successful. I froze a bunch to share if you kids come home for Christmas.
Oh, YAY! I can’t wait
I hope they are as good as you remember.
We hope you can come for one of the holidays.
My grandmother made the same anise cookies for Christmas and I am the only one who has been able to carry on the tradition. Does your recipe use regular sugar or powdered sugar?
Hi Kate,
I use the granulated sugar. It does a good job for me.
I applaud your persistence in carrying on the tradition. It is a tribute to those who have gone before us and and link to the past for our children. Keep it up.
Wendy
Hi
I too have made Anise cookies for years from a very similar recipe and passed down from my German grandparents.
Lately I’ve been failing ( no caps, or hats we call them)
I am in Houston and it has been muggy and raining. I keep thinking I need to adjust the flour to sugar ratio. However, that hasn’t changed and often times they’re perfect.
My recipe calls for 5 eggs, 1 pound of powdered sugar and 3 cups of flour. And the anise, of course.
So I was wondering if you had insight into reasons for failures other than weather ?
Thank you and Merry Christmas!
Hi Sally,
The weather has been the big reason that I have had failures. We need a clear blue sky in the day and a starlight clear night, if at all possible. I have had times when the blue sky comes and a little while later the clouds show up. But if they are minimal, the recipe has still worked. Since weather is such a concern, I started looking for good days in October to make mine. They freeze really well.
I use granulated sugar and 4 eggs. My recipe calls for beating the batter for a whole half hour. My understanding was the amount of air in the mixture also contributes to the “frosting” or cap, as you call it.
I hope some of this info might be of help.
Did you happen to follow the link to my blog on “Making Anise Cookies?” Perhaps there might be some other help there for you. Keep trying.
When you see success, it will be so worth the effort. I remember when I learned how to make angel food cake from scratch. I tried over and over. Now it is an “old favorite,” rather than an “old failure.”
Merry Christmas to you, too. It is a wonderful time of year.
May I ask what your recipe is? I would love to try to make these cookies and I find that there are so many recipes that are cake-like. I prefer the crisp, shiny-top cookie.
Thanks!
Hi, Kathy, Follow the link at the bottom of “Grandma’s Anise Cookies”. That will take you to my blog on “Making Anise Cookies”. That post contains the amounts and how they are made. If you have questions about the recipe from that, please contact me again. I tried to be specific enough so that you can succeed at the cookie-making. Have fun. By the way, they freeze very well, so you can make them last a while. Wendy
Thank you very much for your kind reply
The recipe handed down to me is:
5 large or 6 medium eggs – leave out until at room temperature
1 pound powdered sugar- sifted (you can buy one pound boxes)
2 drops Anise oil ( in my experience very hard to find oil and I use extract a lot. Basically use to
enough drops to achieve desired taste- and it can be as much as 15 drops)
3 cups of flour- sifted
Directions:
Beat eggs 10-15 minutes, or until thick ( I usually beat closer to 1/2 hour)
Add sugar (sifted) slowly, approximately 2 tablespoons at a time
Add Anise and mix
Add flour slowly (also sifted)
**** I have tried adding 1/2- 1tsp of baking powder- sifted with the flour at times to make sure they rise (get their feet) – but this was not in my grandmother’s recipe.
Spoon onto greased cookie sheet ( I use Parchment paper instead)
Let stand overnight
Bake at 300-310 degrees F 8-10 minutes
I usually take them out when the “feet” look just slightly brown–this enables them to peel off the
parchment paper cleanly ( when they are in the oven I pick up the parchment paper to look at the browning of the feet and that is how I know when to take them out of the oven.
Let cool and peel off the parchment paper.
Now yes, I call the top the cap or hat and the bottom , if they rise appropriately, – the feet
Without the cap or the feet both myself and my family ( they won’t say it) think it’s a failure
They taste fine as failures but just aren’t as good as when the come out cleanly , as above.
I notice that in other recipes that the the instructions are to beat the sugar and eggs for 30 mins , whereas mine calls for just beating the eggs for that amount of time. I might try that instead.
I do think the aeration of the sugar to eggs is important as well as the eggs/sugar to flour ratio. And maybe the weather, as you say.
Also, I used my mother’s mixer (it’s 57 years old) and it wasn’t working very well this year!! It wouldn’t beat the eggs well. So that could be an issue too.
Thank you for your reply
Sally Vetter
Hi Sally, Your recipe is somewhat different from mine. Did you ever try getting anise oil through your pharmacy? That is where I have had success. My bottle has lasted me a lot of years. It takes only 6 drops. I tried the extract, too, and was happier with the oil by far. Happy Baking. Wendy