Frosted Anise Cookies

  Every year at Christmas I think back to the German Springerle cookies Mom used to buy at Woody's grocery in West Carrollton, Ohio (now out of business). They were square, like little pillows, and crunchy on the outside  and soft in the middle. Each was impressed with a design.

 They were strongly anise-flavored. And they were delicious.

 I was wondering if I could make something with a similar flavor but without all the work. Readers Digest Canada has a recipe posted that seemed easy enough and so I tried it. The recipe is here.

 This is certainly not the traditional German cookie. Not even close. It is essentially an anise-flavored sugar cookie. But it is also delicious in its own way.

I wanted a stronger anise taste so I added two teaspoons of anise flavoring (it is alcohol based). Even that in retrospect is not enough. So I made my own glaze (just confectioner's sugar, vanilla flavoring, an entire teaspoon of anise flavoring and enough milk to make the glaze creamy and spreadable.

 But I found the cookies are great without glazing and I'm leaving most of them plain.

 I simply melted the butter in a bowl in the microwave, added everything  except the flour and mixed it thoroughly, first with a tablespoon and then a  whisk. I did not use a beater (absolutely unnecessary). I folded in the flour last (because I wanted the liquid perfectly mixed first).

 I used a small ice  cream scoop to place the battery on a non-stick cookie  sheet. I did not fill it completely. I found  the recipe made 33 cookies. I needed a longer baking  time: 13 minutes vs. the called for "8-10 minutes" as these cookies are probably larger than the recipe calls for.

 The cookies never browned on the top but the bottoms began to lightly brown. Even so, they are perfectly baked. The four teaspoons of baking powder gives them a hefty loft. Talk about little pillows!

 They are certainly delicious and remind me of the cookies Mom bought from Woody's so many years ago. But only the taste is similar. Yet if time is of the essence, especially at the holidays, these are a satisfying substitute for the real thing.