Anise Seed Cookies

Baking cookies is always great fun! I usually bake different kinds of cookies each year during Advent. It is a tradition that my husband brought into the house.

In Germany (where he has his roots), it is very common to bake a large number of cookies (or like they call them ‘Plätzchen’) in the weeks before Christmas. My mother-in-law usually starts mid-November and bakes 12 to 15 different kinds of cookies.

I would like to share my recipe for Anise Seed Cookies with you here! They are easy to make and are a great gift too!

This year I have limited myself to two different kinds: Gingerbread Cookies and Anise Seed Cookies. You can read more on the Gingerbread Cookies here.

The Anise Seed Cookies are a favourite here in the house. We both like the taste of anise seed which might not be the most obvious cookie spice that you can think of.

For me, making cookies is a relaxing occupation. I usually let the machine do the kneading :). Rolling the dough and cutting out the cookies is just fun.

I have used a small gingerbread man cookie cutter and I ended up with approximately 75 little cookies.

Print Recipe

Anise Seed Cookies

These little gingerbread men hide an unexpected flavour... they are made using anise seed.

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Resting Time2 hours hrs

Total Time3 hours hrs

Course: Sweets, Tea Time

Cuisine: Vegetarian

Servings: 75 pieces

Equipment

• Baking sheet and baking parchment
• Oven

Ingredients

• 300 g wheat flour plus extra to dust the workspace
• 100 g icing sugar
• 200 g cold butter in small cubes
• 1 egg medium sized
• 3 tsp anise seeds
• 1 tsp ground anise seed

Instructions

• Roast the anise seeds in a dry pan. Leave to cool down and crush using a pestle and mortar.
• Put crushed anise seeds, ground anise seed, flour, icing sugar, butter and egg in a bowl and knead into a smooth dough (using a mixer with dough hooks)
• Wrap the dough in cling film and leave to cool in the fridge for 2 hours
• Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan and line a baking tray with baking parchment
• Divide the dough into 3 or 4 parts. Dust your workspace with flour and roll out one part of the dough to a thickness of 5 mm (keeping the rest of the dough in the fridge). Use any cutter you like to cut out the cookies
• Arrange the cookies on the baking tray, leaving a little space between them. Bake them in the oven for about 8 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack

Notes

You can use any cookie cutter that you like. I have used a little gingerbread man cutter. The amount of cookies that you can make depends on the size of your cookie cutter.

Once completely cooled, you can store your cookies in an airtight container for about 2-3 weeks. The anise flavour will become a little more intense after storing the cookies.