Anise Drops

The holidays always leave me nostalgic for sweets of old, especially a crisp, button-shaped cookie with a sugar cap named the "Anise Drop". My Grandma passed some years ago, and with her the knowledge of how to successfully create this cookie. My Father & Uncles have "fond" memories of these cookies, and detail eating them out of sealed tins months after Christmas.  They recall the drops were like rocks. 

Grandma's Anise Drop Recipe

As a family, we have been battling to recreate her recipe, with little success. My Grandma was a practical woman, believing in common sense. This common sense has transferred over to her recorded recipes, each one assuming that the reader would hold her same level of common sense. This is not the case. Our cookies just wouldn't turn out. Not at all. 

This year, the bug bit & a new quest started, on a whim, I Googled "Anise Drop" and was directed to a recipe from the blog All Through The Year Cheer & adapted it to be gluten free, as follows:

Gluten-Free Anise Drop Cookies

*We Doubled the batch, and our yield was 32, 2" cookies

2 eggs

1 c sugar

1 Cup Bob's Redmill Gluten Free Flour Mix  plus 1/4 tsp Xanthan Gum *Regular Flour may be used, or a gluten free mix already containing Xanthan Gum in equal parts.

4 tsp anise seed 

2 tsp lemon zest

Pinch salt

Butter, to liberally grease the baking sheet *Liberally is an understatement. We recommend using parchment or aluminum foil liners, in addition to the grease.

Cream together the egg, sugar, and anise oil until light and fluffy- you will beat them longer than you think you need to, probably for about 10 minutes. Please use a mixer, unless you have fore-arms of STEEL. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, anise seed, lemon zest, and salt. Beat the dry ingredients into the wet one spoonful at a time. Our dough had the consistency of warm marshmallow fluff or really thick carmel. Drop by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet, 1-inch apart. (We are going to use a piping bag for our next batch, in attempts to get a smaller, neater cookie) Let stand AT LEAST 12 hours or overnight (dough will harden). Bake at 300F for 20-25 minutes until the cookies are puffed and look like mushroom caps, and the bottoms are lightly golden. Allow to cool completely to release from cookie sheets. Store in an air-tight container. Enjoy :)

The recipe at All Through The Year Cheer provided just enough guidance that we feel confidant in approaching Grandma's recipe, next time. Here's Ours, aren't they pretty?

Anise Drops, So, So yummy :)