CINNAMON ANISE COOKIES

Is it too soon to start thinking about Christmas? I’m torn. I love Christmas. But I also love Halloween. It seems like Halloween gets interrupted every year by early bird Christmas marketing, and I like my Halloween season to be long. Solution, combine Christmas elements in the weeks leading to Halloween. Like these cinnamon anise cookies. The spice from the aniseed and cinnamon give me Halloween vibes but they also give me the Christmas feels. They’re perfect for the transition of the two.

The anise seed gives a very subtle but also very bold flavor to the cookies. A slight licorice-like taste. It’s quite pleasant and feels very similar to a pumpkin spice vibe and Christmas vibe at the same time.

I ground up the anise seeds with a pestle and mortar to open up their flavor a bit more. Then I mixed them into cookie dough. Since Halloween is right around the corner, I used a bat cookie cutter. I also think it’s very adorable.

Then I mixed up equal parts cinnamon and sugar and sprinkled it over top the cookies I just cut out. I was pretty generous with the amount of cinnamon and sugar I used. My intention was to drench the cookies. They turned out perfectly!

CINNAMON ANISE COOKIES RECIPE

Ingredients

• 3 cups of whole wheat flour
• 1 3/4 cups sugar, divided
• 1 cup of butter
• 2 tablespoons of brewed cinnamon tea
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of anise seed
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• Pinch of salt

Directions

1. Cream the butter and 3/4 cups of sugar until light at fluffy.
2. Using a mortar and pestle, crush the anise seeds.
3. Add the crushed seeds, egg and tea to the creamed sugar mixture and mix until combined.
4. Add the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir but don’t overwork after the dry ingredients are added.
5. Divide the dough in half and wrap with plastic wrap.
6. Chill in the refrigerator for a few hours, overnight is best.
7. Mix the remaining sugar and ground cinnamon in a large bowl. Set aside.
8. Once the chilled dough has set, roll them out into 1/4″ thick discs.
9. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
10. Use cookie cutters to cut out the cookies then gently place them into the cinnamon and sugar bowl, completely covering each side.
11. Bake for 12-15 minutes.
12. Cool on a cooling rack.
13. Enjoy!