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 ¼-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:
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 3 eggs
- ¼ cup milk (I used 2%, use your preferred)
- 2 teaspoon anise extract
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups (360g) all-purpose flour, potentially up to 3 ¼ cups [see instructions]
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
For the glaze:
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar
- 3 tablespoon milk or water
- ¼ teaspoon 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 ¼ cup (4 tbsp) during this time, but likely less. The amount of flour you need may vary.
- Using a 1 ½-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 ½ 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 tablespoon milk (or water), and ¼ teaspoon 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.
Food Safety and Nutrition Disclaimer
Danielle says
I have to come on here and say THANK YOU for this recipe. I have gotten the best compliments from these cookies, and I truly think this was the best cookie I’ve ever eaten. Truly delicious, this recipe is the best!!! Thank you
Alyssa says
You're so welcome, Danielle - this makes me so happy to hear! 🙂 I'm thrilled you love these cookies as much as I do!
Cathy Carrico says
Have been looking for this recipe for years. I'm not especially fond of anise flavor but this cookie is enjoyable. I have made them two times and they are so easy. I gave away some and those that I gave them to said they were perfect. I put vanilla in glaze it works. Thank you very much.
Alyssa says
You're very welcome, Cathy! I'm so glad you enjoy these cookies. Thanks for letting me know your experience. 🙂
Janet Kenney says
Oh, no. ICING." I was asking about the icing! Sorry for the typo!
Alyssa says
No worries! I knew exactly what you meant. 🙂
Janet Kenney says
Hi Alyssa. Thanks for this nice recipe. I love these cookies and am always up for trying a new recipe! I have a question about the I I g: how can I be sure I have it exactly right before I use it? Should it not drop off the whisk? Or a bit? What's the "test" for that?
Alyssa says
Hi Janet, it shouldn't drip all off the whisk. I would test the icing by dipping one cookie into it and seeing how it does. If the icing runs off, it'll need to be thickened with additional powdered sugar. If it doesn't spread out over the top of the cookie it'll need a tiny bit more milk. Ideally you want the glaze to slowly spread out over the top surface but not drip down the sides and onto the plate. I hope that's helpful!
Tina Fear says
Can I use the aniseed spice instead of the extract and if so, how much
Believe my grandma used the spice and she’s passed and I don’t have a recipe
Alyssa says
Hi Tina, yes you can use that in place of the extract. I haven't made that substitution myself so I'm not exactly sure of how much to use, but I would say 3 teaspoons or so of aniseed to replace the 2 teaspoons of extract in the cookie dough.
Pat says
Should they be stored in a cookie tin or a plastic container?
Alyssa says
An air-tight container works best!
Carrie says
Hi how long wi3ll they stay feesh in an airtight container?
Alyssa says
Hi! They should stay for 3-4 days at room temperature. You can also bake them and freeze unglazed, thawing fully and glazing and decorating closer to serving.
Nicole says
Thank you for posting this recipe. These are one of the cookies my mother's Italian family always made every year, and my absolute favorite as a child. As the family has dwindled and my ties to them as well, its been hard to recapture some of these lost recipes. I look forward to making them.
Alyssa says
I know what you mean about lost recipes, Nicole. There are a few this year I'm trying to recreate with the help of my mom and scraps of decades old notes, if we're lucky enough to have those! I hope you enjoy.
Fino says
Are these a dense texture or cakey and light? I lost my families recipe for these and I've been testing tons of recipes to try and find one similar, but ours were dense and a bit crumbly and heavy opposed to airy.
Alyssa says
Hi Fino, these are not super heavy, though they're not exactly cake-y (like a ricotta cookie) either. They're tender but not too moist if that makes sense?
Roxanne Campanella says
I have my grandmother’s original recipe. The cookie is dense as you describe. I’m glad to share it with you.
Lorraine says
Could these be frozen after they are glazed and decorated? Trying to figure out the best way to put them in the mail.
Thanks!
Lorraine
Alyssa says
Hi Lorraine, the texture of the glaze may be impacted by freezing and thawing. I would freeze them before decorating.
Lorraine says
Thank you! I think I will send them unglazed with the glaze in a separate container. Then they can have fun decorating them.
Constance Leonard says
I have made these twice in the last several weeks and they are delicious. They look so fancy but are easy to make!
I know it might not be traditional, but has anyone made these with different extracts like almond, lemon, or orange?
Finally I am at high altitude in Colorado ans the measurements are perfect!
Will make these often! Thanks for the fabulous recipe.
Alyssa says
Hi Constance, you're so welcome! I'm so glad you like these cookies. 🙂 And thank you for letting me know how they went at high altitude. I think any of the extracts you mentioned would be great in this kind of cookie, either totally replacing the anise or decreasing the anise and adding one of the ones you mentioned. I combine lemon (juice/zest) and almond when I make ricotta cookies and lemon/anise in Italian Easter bread and love how the flavors combine. Both of those recipes are on here if you want to see the ratios.
Kelli castro says
Why water in the icing?
Isn't milk better?
I think it's the warm milk that always kept my Grammies icing to look thick, instead of getting to thin, and cracking.
I'm not sure though.
And also, I have a super strong extract,
I never know whether or not to anisette the frosting too?
This was a cookie I did not like to eat when small, just watch them get made, and dry,by the dozens!
I feel like extract in the icing is TOO much...
Help.
Alyssa says
Hi Kelli, you can absolutely use milk! I use milk in other cookie glazes -- I will make a note in the recipe card that either is fine. Thanks for the reminder. I've used a few different brands of anise extract and enjoy them in both the cookie and the icing. It really does smell pungent in the container though! I would definitely put them in the cookies, but perhaps you can make the icing without the anise extract, ice a few, then taste them to see if you'd like to add the anise before icing the rest? That or you can substitute in vanilla extract. Just be sure for this recipe that you're using anise extract. Anise oil is another flavoring out there but has a more concentrated flavor and would require less to be used. I hope that's helpful!
Cathy says
Can I make dough and chill to cook later?
Alyssa says
That should be fine, Cathy. If it's too hard to scoop right when it comes out of the fridge you can let it sit at room temperature for a short bit of time to make it easier.
Mary Lou Cornwall says
This is my second Easter making these absolutely delicious cookies. My dough turned out perfect, no stickiness. I used my small cookie scoop & got 4 and a half dozen. I dusted your icing with gold sand pebbles & slipped them in gold foil holders - they look beautiful. Is it better to store them in Tupperware or a tin?
Alyssa says
I'm so happy you like these cookies, Mary Lou! Your decorations sound beautiful. I always store them in a Tupperware-type container, but a tin could work - maybe with the cookies sealed in a plastic bag within the tin to keep them the freshest?