Hello and welcome to day 9 of the Cookie Advent Calendar.

The today’s recipe is from the mountains around here, it’s a very old, a simple cooking example.

I remember these cookies as one of my dad’s favourites: when I was a child I used to munch them all around to eat the sugar, leaving the inside of the cookie as I didn’t like the anise. 🙂

You can often find them here very big, the size of a fist, so they are called “zuccheroni” ( big sugar cookies, hard to give a proper translation) intead of “zuccherini” ( small sugar cookies).

I am giving you the small version recipe, easier to bake and to eat as they are a little hard ( but it’s how they have to be).

Print Recipe

Sugar coated cookies from Tuscan- Emilian Apennines.

Servings: 20

Ingredients

350 g all purpose flour
70 g castewr sugar
50 ml sunflower ( or seeds) oil
2 eggs
1 tbsp anise seeds
1/2 bag baking powder

For the glaze:

40 ml water
300 ml caster sugar
anise liquor (optional) or anise extract (optional)

Instructions

Beat eggs and sugar until frothy.
Add oil slowly while beating.
Add anise seeds, mix, then add flour and baking powder sifted together.
Knead until you have a smooth loaf.
Take small pinches of dough ( about 25 g, little bit less than 1 oz.) and roll them into stripes.
They don't have to be long and thin, better short and a little chubby.
Close stripes in a ring shape pressing well the two ends.
With a sharp knife cut the dough all around the ring, not a deep cut, you don't have to split the ring in two.
Bake at 150°C/ 302°F for about 15-20 minutes.
Meanwhile put glaze sugar, water and liquor/aroma if you use it in a pan and bring to a boil.
Sugar has to dissolve but don0t turn to blonde/brown.
When cookies are ready soak them, a couple at time, into the syrup then let them dry on a baking tray, on parchment.
You can store these cookies up to a month if you keep them in a dry place.