I feel as though I start every post with superlatives, favorite this and best that, and while I’ve tried to come up with a different way to introduce these…I cannot! These almond-anise cookies are festive, packed with flavor, and fun to make and to eat. It’s a definite favorite cookie of mine, and also the one that’s received the most praise from cookie recipients this year.
As you can tell, these are a spin on Mexican wedding cookies / Russian tea cakes. Instead of pecans or walnuts, I use almonds and add ground anise seeds. The flavors work wonderfully with the structure of this cookie, and I don’t know if I’ll ever make it the traditional ways again!
I typically refrigerate or freeze any and all cookie dough that I make, and then scoop/bake off however much I need at a given time. Since the butter proportion in this dough is high, however, I recommend making and baking right away, or portioning/shaping the cookies before refrigerating/freezing so you don’t wind up chipping away at a cold block of dough when you’re ready to bake!
Almond-Anise Butter Cookies
yields about 3 dozen
Ingredients
1 1/2 c (230 g) all-purpose flour
1/2 t kosher salt
1 t anise seeds, finely ground
1 1/4 c (140 g) raw / blanched almonds, toasted & cooled
1/4 c + 1 T (56 g) granulated sugar
3/4 c (1 1/2 sticks; 171 g) unsalted butter, room temp
1 t vanilla
2 c (230 g) powdered sugar, for coating
Directions
Whisk together the flour, salt, and ground anise seeds in a medium bowl and set aside.
Process the almonds and 1 T sugar in a food processor until the almonds are finely chopped. (careful not to turn it into butter, though!) Set aside.
With the paddle attachment, cream the remaining 1/4 c sugar, butter, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
Add the flour mixture into the butter mixture, mixing slowly until the dough has almost come together. Add the almonds and gradually increase the speed until the mixture is evenly combined. Do not over-mix—remove bowl from mixer and target any spots that need incorporating by hand if need be!
The high butter content renders this dough best to work with at room temp, so roll and bake the cookies right away or roll them to store in the refrigerator or freezer to bake off later.
If baking right away—heat oven to 325 F, and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll the dough into 1” balls and place about an inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten them slightly with your palm. Bake the cookies for about 22-27 minutes (about 30-34 if baking from refrigerator, 35 if baking from frozen), until the bottoms are golden, and the tops are firm when pressed. You want these to be totally baked through/dried out—they need to be light and crisp! Take measures to ensure even baking—rotate the pan mid-bake, and if you’re baking multiple sheets at a time, switch them between the racks. While cookies are baking, place powdered sugar in a medium/small bowl.
Once cookies out of the oven, transfer to a cooling rack. As soon as you can (I do this pretty much right away), toss each cookie in the powdered sugar to coat completely, and place back on cooling rack. Let cool & enjoy!!
