Author Notes
We've been making these in my family since I can remember. They are nicely anisey, a bit chewy, with a smooth, hard top crust that crunches, like a french macaron. We had no idea what a French macaron was oh, 40+ years ago, but some techniques for those will help with these, though these are much easier, as they use all purpose flour instead of nut meal, and include baking powder instead of relying solely on your finesse with eggs. These cookies get a long rest before baking so they develop "feet" when they bake. The baked cookies survive a trip to the freezer quite nicely too. Very yummy indeed! —bonbonmarie
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Ingredients
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4
eggs
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2 cups
sugar
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1 tablespoon
aniseseed, crushed
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2 1/2 cups
All purpose flour
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1/4 teaspoon
salt
Directions
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Crush aniseed by using a mortar and pestle or by rolling them with your rolling pin.
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Combine flour, salt, baking powder and aniseed
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Beat eggs well until very thick. Add sugar and beat for 5 minutes
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Add remaining ingredients and beat for another 15 minutes
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Drop dough from spoon onto well greased or parchment lined baking sheet to form approximately 1 1/2 " rounds, spaced 1" apart
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Let stand overnight (or about 8 hours). Do not disturb
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After resting period, bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes, until done. The "feet" should get slightly brown, but these cookies will be very light, in general. I recommend not using your oven's convection setting, as it can make the feet rise unevenly, producing delicious little cookies that lean over to one side (see picture #2)
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