Olive Oil Anise Cookies
These olive oil anise cookies are tender, cakey, and chock-full of licorice flavor. They are super versatile and customizable, and the perfect accompaniment for your morning coffee or addition to a holiday cookie tray.
Ingredients
- 3 cups flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 5 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 3 large eggs
- 3 tsp anise extract to taste
For the glaze, optional
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1-2 tbsp milk
- 1/2-1 tsp extract to taste
- sprinkles, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat eggs, olive oil and sugar together until fluffy, 5 minutes. Add in milk and anise extract and stir to combine.
- In a seperate bowl, mix together your dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and salt. While mixing, slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet. The dough will be very soft, but should not be sticky.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease it well. Scoop the dough out onto a well floured work surface. Shape your cookies. You can keep the dough soft and make drop cookies by letting a spoonful of dough fall onto the baking sheet. Or add more flour to roll the dough into balls or shape into logs that you can twist into decortative designs. Be careful adding too much flour; you don't want the dough to get too dense.
- Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes. They will still be pale on the top, but golden brown on the bottom.
- Optional: make the glaze by mixing powdered sugar, milk and extract. Decorate the cookies with the glaze and sprinkles.
Notes
Make ahead: The dough can be made up to 3 days in advance and stored in the fridge. You can also store the baked cookies in the freezer up to 1 month, and the dough in the freezer up to 3 months to defrost and bake whenever you want.
The anise extract can be substituted with lemon, vanilla, almond, or just about any extract you like. Same goes for the glaze.