These classic Italian anise cookies are tender, easy, and covered in a glaze with sprinkles. Enjoy these cookies as part of a holiday cookie tray or year-round!
So much of what I love about the holiday season is tied to food (because, obviously), and family favorite recipes dominate my holiday menu each year. Can you relate to that? I try out a few new cookies or side dishes or whatnot each year, but by and large it wouldn’t be Christmas, let’s say, without baked clam dip and struffoli and Panettone french toast.
I already have my clams, honey, and Panettone ready to go. 🙂
Besides struffoli, one of the Italian recipes my mom has made every year since before I can even remember are Italian anise cookies. These tender, licorice-flavored cookies are topped with glaze and festive sprinkles to add a special touch to any holiday cookie tray. I know the licorice flavor can be polarizing like cilantro, but for those who don’t mind or like it – these Italian anise cookies will be just your speed.
In our family recipe we always use anise, though I know others use vanilla, almond, or citrus extracts in place of it. The quantities of anise extract as written in the recipe card below (in my opinion) are just enough – you can certainly taste it, but it’s not in-your-face and overpowering.
When it comes to the flour, you’ll notice I mention to start with three cups. Once all of the cookie ingredients are mixed together, 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 reduced. You’ll want the dough to be able to roll between your hands with very minimal sticking. I added an extra 1/4-cup during this process, but you may need more or less depending on how your dough is behaving.
Oh! And something else about the flour. My procedure for measuring flour is to first stir/whisk the flour in its canister to fluff it up. Then I spoon it into my measuring cup, taking care not to pack it down. Once the measuring cup is overflowing, I use the straight edge of my spoon to level off the measuring cup. I’ll do that step over top of the flour canister so the excess goes right back in. This way of measuring prevents extra flour from being added to the recipe, which can cause baked goods to be dry. It’s the way I measure flour for all my recipes.
MAKE-AHEAD TIP: These Italian anise cookies can be made several days ahead of time. If doing so, I suggest baking the cookies and then NOT glazing them until the day you would like to serve them. Reason being is that the next day and the days beyond, the colors of the rainbow nonpareils bleed onto the white glaze and don’t look quite as picture perfect as they day they were glazed and decorated. Of course if you don’t really care about that feel free to glaze ’em up right away, or you can omit the sprinkles or use white nonpareils instead.
Italian Anise Cookies
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1/4 cup milk (I used 2%, use your preferred)
- 2 tsp anise extract
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups (360g) all-purpose flour, potentially up to 3 1/4 cups [see instructions]
- 1 tbsp baking powder
For the glaze:
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar
- 3 tbsp water
- 1/4 tsp anise extract
- Nonpareils for decoration
Instructions
For the cookies:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Cream butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl for a few minutes until smooth and creamy.
- Add the eggs and beat well using a hand or stand mixer, until the mixture is light and looks frothy.
- Add milk, anise extract, and vanilla extract and mix until combined.
- Add 3 cups of flour (measured using the spoon-and-level method) and baking powder to a separate bowl and whisk until evenly combined.
- In 2-3 increments, add flour mixture to the bowl with the wet ingredients, mixing in until just combined.
- 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 1/4 cup (4 tbsp) during this time, but likely less. The amount of flour you need may vary.
- Using a 1 1/2-tbsp cookie scoop, scoop balls of dough and roll between your palms to form spheres. Some of the dough will stick inside the scoop but that's okay. Place dough balls equally-spaced on the baking sheets, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between one another.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until cookies are very lightly brown on the bottom. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.
For the glaze:
- Once cookies have cooled completely, whisk together 2 cups confectioners' sugar, 3 tbsp water, and 1/4 tsp anise extract. Dip the tops of each anise cookie into the glaze, and then sprinkle nonpareils over top. Let glaze harden completely before storing.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as an estimate. As it can vary due to many factors (brands used, quantities, etc.), we cannot guarantee its accuracy.
Suzanne says
Hi Alyssa. I am about to make these, but I want to make sure they don’t come out too soft.
My niece made a similar recipe for Christmas and the cookies were very soft inside and out. I think cookies should at least be hard on the outside. What can I do to prevent this from happening?
Alyssa says
Hi Suzanne, sorry for my delayed response as I was unexpectedly without internet or cell service for a few days. These cookies aren’t super soft and cakey (like Italian ricotta cookies would be), so I think you should be in the clear on these.
Mike smith. says
The Authentic way to make these do you need to use king Arthur flour
Alyssa says
Hi Mike, you can use your preferred brand of all-purpose flour. I’ve used both King Arthur as well as store-brand and it’s all good. I do like the whole King Arthur line of products, though!
priscilla says
The glaze is not working the way it should. do i need to heat it up to melt it?
Alyssa says
Hi Priscilla, it doesn’t need heating to reach the right texture. If it’s too thick you can whisk in a little bit of water or milk (one teaspoon or so) at a time until it thins out enough to dunk the cookies. If it gets too thin, you can whisk in extra confectioners’ sugar until it thickens up.
Anna K says
EVERY YEAR since 2017 I’ve made these…there is something about coming back to this recipe online…
There are honestly better than my Italian MIL’ s ….my hubby and children just asked me this week when I’m making them..and here I am…Have a wonderful and Merry Christmas and fantastic New Year!
Alyssa says
I’m so happy they’re a hit in your house, Anna! 🙂 I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!
Rachel says
These cookies were very dry. My partner loves anise cookies and couldn’t finish one without choking on it 🙁
Alyssa says
I’m sorry to hear that, Rachel! Did you start at 3 cups of flour and then see if you needed more? Also, how are you measuring flour? I recommend stirring up the flour in its bag/canister, spooning it into a dry measuring cup, then leveling off the top with a straight edge to allow the excess to fall back into the bag. This prevents excess flour from being packed into the cup, which can unfortunately lead to dry baked goods.
Debbie Druce says
Thank you my first time making your recipie, very good, reminds me of my grandmothers recipe, she never measured, so happy for yours, excellent!
Alyssa says
I’m so happy you liked it, Debbie! I know what you mean about old family recipes. It feels like a big victory when you find one with precise measurements. 🙂
Cindy says
My granddaughter has celiac’s so she cannot have gluten. Can these cookies be made with 1 to 1 gluten free flour and can I freeze these cookies after baking?
Cindy
Alyssa says
Hi Cindy, I haven’t used a flour substitute in this recipe, but I think the 1-to-1 variety like you mention should be fine. And yes, these cookies can be frozen after baking. I would freeze them without the icing, waiting to ice and sprinkle them after they’ve thawed completely. That will reduce the chance the icing could run into texture issues with the temperature changes.
Cheryl says
I have used all gluten free flour for the anise cookies too. The gluten free flour is just a little gritty but it comes out good.
Shirley says
Awesome
Alyssa says
Glad you like them, Shirley!
Lisa Pestello says
They were perfect! My dough was very sticky, but the cookies came out delicious! Thank you for the recipe!
Alyssa says
You’re very welcome, Lisa! So glad you enjoyed them.
CONCETTA MAYER says
Hi. Sounds like my family recipe except we use milk not water for icing and almond extract for the icing. Love my cookies so much when I make I eat them all.
Alyssa says
Hi Concetta, that sounds delicious, too. Love how every family has little tweaks to recipes like this. They definitely disappear quickly in my house, too! 🙂