Day: December 14, 2017

Italian Butter Cookies Delicious morsels from the Old Country

Italian Anise Glazed Cookies

Traditions and memories with the kids
A too small plate of Italian glazed butter cookies. I am pretty sure that is a portion. Get your own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love these cookies.  A) They are delicious and crumbly and perfectly sized for a bite.  2) They smell and taste of anise, which is one of my all-time favorite flavors.

The first time if visited my sister in Boston, I found the North End. I walked among the streets taking in all that I imagined happening there 200 years ago (not much there.  A few miles away, however, well, that’s a different story for a different recipe.)  I found a bakery and knew I had to have something, anything, made in the North End to go with dinner.

As soon as I stepped in, the smell of anise grabbed me by the shoulders and said, “Yo, I’m heah!”  Well, that was it.  I had to have two dozen cookies.  I managed to save some for my sister, who, as it happens, doesn’t like anise.  I didn’t know that.  It never came up.  So, what is a brother to do?  Eat them all.

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Italian Glazed Butter Cookies

h/t Joe Casottana

Delicious glazed Italian anise cookies
5 from 1 vote
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Italian Anise Cookies

I just love these cookies.  They are so good and I almost don't want to share.  

Course Dessert
Cuisine Italian
Servings 6 people
Author Dann Reid

Ingredients

  • 12 oz Butter, room temperature
  • 10 oz Granulated sugar
  • 5 each Eggs
  • 1.5 T Vanilla Extract
  • 1.5 T Anise Extract
  • 5 C All purpose flour
  • 5 t Baking powder
  • .25 t Salt
  • 3.5 oz Whole milk
  • Extra flour for hands

Glaze

  • 4 oz Granulated sugar
  • 2 T Light corn syrup
  • 1/3 C Water
  • 2 C Confectioner's sugar
  • 1/2 t Vanilla extract

Rainbow Nonpareils

Instructions

  1. In a separate medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

  2. In the mixing bowl, paddle butter with the granulated sugar until creamy. Add eggs one at a time and then the flavoring.

  3. Add a quarter of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, mixing to incorporate. Add one-third of the half and half and mix. Gradually add and repeat the process until all the ingredients are incorporated. Mix just to combine after each addition.

  4. You will end up with sticky dough. That's expected.

  5. Wrap the dough into a disc shape and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

    Prepare the glaze. In a small saucepan whisk the granulated sugar, water, and corn syrup together. Heat over medium heat, stirring until the mixture comes to a boil. Boil for 30 seconds. Remove the pan from the heat, add the vanilla. Let the mixture rest till warm, like bathwater.

  6. Transfer the sugar base into a mixing bowl. Gradually mix in the confectioner's sugar with the whisk attachment until smooth.

  7. Place a few tablespoons of flour in a small bowl (for dusting your hands). When the dough is chilled, use a small disher to measure out some dough. With floured hands, roll the dough into a 2-inch ball and place it on the baking sheet. Continue scooping and rolling, dusting your hands each time. Place the cookies two inches apart on the pan. Refrigerate the dough whenever it gets too soft to work with.

    Bake the cookies at 350 degrees F for 10-15 minutes, until the tops are set, and the bottoms are lightly browned.

  8. Let the cookies rest for a couple of minutes before placing them on a cooling rack.

  9. Save the glazing process for after all the cookies are baked. When the cookies are completely cooled, you can glaze them. One at a time, dip the cookie in the glaze and immediately sprinkle it with nonpareils. (Don't put on too many, or the colors will bleed.) Place the glazed cookies on a cooling rack and set it over a parchment-lined or wax-paper-lined pan to catch the drips. It will take about 4 hours for the glaze to fully dry, so wait to store or package the cookies.

    Once the glaze has dried, store the cookies covered at room temperature for up to a week. Hahahahh! Yeah, right. I mean, yeah, a week.

  10. If you store them in a plastic container, the cookies will become very moist. Instead, use a paper lunch sack or a plate covered loosely with plastic wrap.

  11. Any leftover glaze can be kept at room temperature for three days, then refrigerated for a week.

Recipe Notes

The icing seems a tease.  It wasn't enough.  Test your own versions but a slightly smaller quantity of powdered sugar will make it a bit more fluid.  It's great glaze, just the recipe seems to make too little.

Of course, the kids will love that these cookies A, are cookies and 2, have sprinkles.  So, don’t disappoint the kids.

Food Fight, Congressional Style

John Belushi Food Fight

 

 

 

Nearly everyone agrees that draining the swamp that is Washington DC is a good idea. Little that appears to be steps in that direction have been had from the top down. Maybe Nestlé is on to something.

In October, 2017, Nestlé, the food giant, withdrew from the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA). The departure happens at the end of the year 2017. A giant like Nestlé would be cause for worry, but add to that list the likes of Campbell’s soup leaving at the end of the year and anyone paying attention should be worried.

Helena Bottemiller Evich and Catherine Boudreau write in the November 26, 2017 “Politico” article, “The Big Washington Food Fight” that “iconic brands are stagnating as millennials and moms seek healthier and more transparent products.” That reads to suggest the decades of less than clear ingredients lists, the renaming of foods to confuse and disguise are coming to and end. We can only hope so. Campbell Soup “announced it was leaving GMA, in part because the association fought bitterly against mandatory labeling for foods with genetically modified ingredients” (“Food Fight”).

Much is not as it once was. The proliferation of pocket computers and an increasingly sophisticated clientele keen on technology are using those tools to search the internet in the aisles to determine just what are those ingredients I can’t pronounce, can’t pick and are never out of season. I write this as one of those very people. Food apps, I use FoodUCate, have come a long way in aiding shoppers find foods which pass muster. One such app gives goods a grade. I use that with my kids and if the questionable food does not rate at least a B+, it goes back on the shelf. Continue reading “Food Fight, Congressional Style”