Category: Recipes

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.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Often as not, you or your guests hate cheesecake. I get it. I was watching a cheesecake video today and I was reminded why they are so terrible: too dense.

We had some guests come on Thanksgiving for dessert and Cards Against Humanity. I offered the choices which included pumpkin cheesecake. She politely commented how she didn’t care for cheesecake. Perfect! I told her that I too hate cheesecake and this isn’t like any she’s had. I guaranteed she would find it at least not like the horrible cheesecakes from before. She accepted, maybe as a socially capable guest. She agreed it was far better than she expected and did, in fact, eat the slice.

If you want to win guests over and earn accolades, make this pumpkin cheesecake.

Baked Pumpkin cheesecake still in the foil wrapped springform pan
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Pumpkin Cheesecake

Cheesecake is not all the same.  Most are to be avoided.  This is to be hoarded and eaten.  The overly thick cheese part which seems always to accompany WAY too sweet is gone here.  Everyone who hates cheesecake likes this.  If you prefer, mashed sweet potato can be used in place of the pumpkin to make it a more year-round treat.

Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 12 people
Author Dann Reid

Ingredients

Graham Cracker Crust

  • 11 oz Graham Crackers, processed to crumbs
  • 3.5 oz Light brown sugar
  • 3 oz Melted, cooled butter

Cheesecake Filling

  • 1.5 lbs Cream cheese, room temperature
  • 8 oz Light brown sugar (1 C) Smash the lumps
  • 1 t Salt
  • 2 each Eggs, Large
  • 1/2 t Ground ginger
  • 1 t Ground Ceylon cinnamon
  • 1/2 t Freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1 can Pumpkin puree 15 oz can

Sour Cream Topping

  • 1.5 C Sour cream
  • .5 C Powdered sugar

Instructions

Graham Cracker Crust

  1. In a bowl large enough to hold all the ingredients, mix the crackers, sugar, and melted butter together.  Press the whole into the bottom of a 10” springform pan.

  2. I bake the crust at 350 degrees F for about 10 minutes to firm up the crust and develop a toasty flavor to the Graham crackers. Once the crust is toasted to your preferences, remove it to cool, turn the oven to 250 degrees F, and start mixing the filling.

  3. Start 1 quart of water to boil.

Assemble Cheesecake filling

  1. Paddle the cream cheese in the bowl of your mixer. I do not mix it on high as I do not prefer all the air that can mix in. Mix it just to make it smooth and soft. Add the brown sugar just to mix and then the spices and salt. Add one egg, allow to fully incorporate then the next, and mix until that, too, has been incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl and then mix in the pumpkin. This is just to mix it in and that’s it. Pour the filling onto the cooled Graham cracker base, place the pan into a cake pan large enough to hold it, and place that into a roasting pan.

    Out of habit, I wrap my pan first with plastic wrap then with foil. What I forgot was that home foil is not as wide as restaurant foil! I'll be using the cake pan next time.

    Update about protecting the springform pan. Those crockpot cooking bags are perfect for waterbaths and cheesecakes. They're huge, too. I have started using them and place the springform into the bag and fold the edges down far enough to be below the top of the pan, then tape the extra tight to the pan so it fits snuggly.

  2. Cheesecake is a custard. Custards require special attention so the eggs don’t curdle and the cheesecake bakes but doesn’t turn granular. This takes time. We need time to sneak the heat into the cake and let the chemistry happen. Water baths allow for the slow transfer of heat. Put the roasting pan with the cheesecake into the oven, then add the boiling water, carefully, into the roasting pan. This allows you to make the water bath without risking burning yourself by moving a pan of boiling water into the oven. Pan, then water, is safer. If you prefer, you may place a clean kitchen towel flat and smooth under the cake pan to keep the cheesecake from sliding around. Bake for 1 hour and don’t peak.

  3. After 1 hour, turn the oven off, open it for just a moment. Go ahead and look at it, but it doesn’t look done because it isn’t done. Close the door and set the timer for another hour. When that timer goes off, remove the roasting pan assemblage to a cooling rack on the counter for, you guessed it, another hour. After that hour is done, remove the cheesecake from the cake pan, place it in the refrigerator until tomorrow. Cover the cheesecake pan with plastic wrap. All that was to prevent the horror of finding a crack on top of the cheesecake. Not the end of the world, but a certain sign that the heat was too high or the cheesecake was overcooked. There is an easy fix. Read on.

Top the cheesecake

  1. Whether or not the cheesecake cracked, the sour cream topping makes a very nice addition for an extra layer, extra color, and an extra flavor.  If it is cracked, then it becomes a secret.

    Pumpkin cheesecake with sour cream topping

Recipe Notes

Pumpkin is mostly available year round, but often is only thought appropriate for the holidays.  Happily, this cheesecake can be made any time with the substitution of pureed sweet potato for pumpkin.  Same amounts and same procedure and same deliciousness.  

 

Out of habit, I wrap my pan first with plastic wrap then with foil. What I forgot was that home foil is not as wide as restaurant foil! I’ll be using the cake pan next time.

 

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