Anisette Love Knots Recipes

ANISE COOKIES

Steps:

• Melt butter and shortening together. Add the sugar; mix well. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the anise extract. Sift or whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to creamed mixture gradually. If the dough is too sticky to roll in the palm of your hand, add flour until firmer, but it should be very soft. Roll dough in small balls (these tend to really puff up with all the baking powder in them!) and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake @ 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes (the bottom should be lightly browned but the tops should remain light). Remove cookies to wire rack and cool completely before glazing.
• Next time I will be more careful with the flour, I think I added a bit too much. The tops of my cookies cracked. I also used my cookie scoop and filled it half way, which seemed to work pretty well.
• Mix milk GRADUALLY into confectioners' sugar to make a thick glaze... make sure to keep it on the thick side. Dip top of each cookie into glaze. Sprinkle with colored jimmies or nonpareils while glaze is still wet. I usually dip 10-12 cookies, return them to the wire rack (with wax paper under the racks to aid in clean up!) and then sprinkle those cookies before starting to dip more.
• I dipped and sprinkled 5 at a time, that seemed to be the magic number before the glaze would start to harden.

ITALIAN KNOT COOKIES

Steps:

• In a mixer, add melted butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix the flour with the baking powder and salt. Change to dough hooks and add flour mixture. Add the warm water and mix until it forms a smooth dough. Make 11/2 inch balls with dough. Roll balls out to about 4 inch worms. Bring one end over the other, then underneath and through the middle, like a knot. Place on baking sheet, four rows of four. (16 cookies on each sheet). Bake in 350F oven for 13 - 15 minutes. Let cool before icing. To Ice: Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Add a little water until desired consistency. Dip cookie upside down into icing, then turn over onto waxpaper. Sprinkle with candy sprinkles.

ANGINETTI, ITALIAN LEMON KNOT COOKIES

Steps:

• If you prefer, dough can be made the day before which makes it nice and chilled to work with, or you can start scooping them right after you make the dough but probably you will have to chill it for a while as you're making the cookies and the dough stays out. I sometimes stick it in the freezer for a few minutes to get it to firm up again.
• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until fluffy, add eggs one at a time, then the extract and zest.
• In a smaller bowl whisk the flour, salt and baking powder, then slowly add to the creamed mixture alternately with the milk, you might not have to use all the milk.
• When everything is incorporated, let the dough rest for 5 minutes or wrap and chill overnight.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees. and place cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet.
• To form the knots I like to use a cookie scoop so all will be similar in size, then take the scoop of dough and roll it into a log about 5 or 6 inches, it's the length of a bench scraper, that's how I measure mine.
• Then take one side of the log and spiral it into a circle, you can tuck the other end down or up, it doesn't matter.
• Bake for 12 to 15 minutes according to your oven, mine took exactly 12 minutes, you want the underneath to be golden brown, not dark brown.
• Cool on racks.
• LIMONCELLO ICING
• One and one half cups of powdered sugar
• Five tablespoons of limoncello Liqueur
• zest of 1 lemon
• TRADITIONAL LEMON ICING
• One and one half cups of powdered sugar
• zest of 1 lemon
• One half teaspoon of lemon extract
• and lemon juice to get the right consistency.
• I always taste my icing to make sure it has the right amount of lemon, you can always add more, and I also like to brush my icing on instead of dipping., personal preference.
• After frosting immediately put your sprinkles on and then let the whole cookie dry for about an hour.
• You can keep them in tins with wax paper in between, or you can freeze them in an airtight container right after they bake and cool down, then frost them a day or two ahead before you'll be eating them.

ITALIAN COOKIES WITH ANISE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Beat butter and sugar for dough together in a bowl with an electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs, vanilla extract, and anise extract and blend. Combine flour and baking powder in a separate bowl; stir into butter mixture until blended.
• Take a ping pong-sized ball of dough and roll between your hands to form a rope. Connect the ends and twist into a figure 8 shape. Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough.
• Bake in batches in the preheated oven until edges are golden, about 10 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Mix milk into confectioners' sugar for icing, stirring slowly. Add the anise extract and vanilla extract.
• Dip cooled cookies into the icing face-down and lay on wax paper or a wire rack.

ANISETTE LOVE KNOTS

Steps:

• Cookies:.
• In bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Toss lightly with a fork. Add eggs and sugar - mix well, (mixture will be crumbly). Add melted butter, 3 teaspoons anise extract and warm water. Stir until mixture forms a ball. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes until dough is smooth. Chill for one hour.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pinch off pieces of dough about the size of large olives and roll into logs. Tie each into a knot shape and place on aluminum foil approximately 2" apart. Slide foil with cookies onto cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until bottoms are pale brown. When done, slide aluminum foil off cookie sheets and let cookies cool on foil until cool.
• Glaze:.
• Stir milk and remaining two tablespoons anise extract into confectioners sugar. Consistency should be like heavy cream, if needed, add drops of milk. Dip cookies upside down into glaze; turn upright and dry on cookie rack over waxed paper for one minute, than sprinkle with candy sprinkles. Makes about 50 cookies.
• Store in a waxed paper lined cookie tin, approximately one week.

ITALIAN ANISETTE COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• In large bowl, mix flour, baking powder and white sugar. Make a well in the center and add oil, milk, 1 tablespoon anise extract, and eggs. Mix together until dough is sticky.
• Oil fingers and pinch off dough in 1 inch pieces. Roll into a ball and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet, 1 inch apart, flatten top slightly. Bake for 8 minutes. Dip cookies in Icing while warm.
• To Make Icing: Blend in 1 teaspoon anise extract and enough hot water to 1 cup confectioner's sugar to form a smooth icing.