Buttery Anise and Cardamom Cookies
These up the game on the already simply delicious butter cookie. The light and cakey texture perfectly delivers the rich flavors of butter and vanilla with hints of licorice, warm spice, and salt (you can use less salt if you prefer, but I think it accents the other flavors nicely). Enjoy these plain or top them with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar or a drizzle of anise-flavored glaze. A few keys: cake flour gives the cookies a soft and tender texture, and refrigerating the dough overnight helps deepen the flavors—but if you’re in a hurry, chill the dough for an hour so it’s easier to work with and continue on.
Ingredients
- 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 2/3 cups cake flour
- 1/2 teaspoon scant kosher salt (Morton’s)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened (ideally between 65 and 67 degrees)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 large egg plus 2 egg yolks
- 3 1/2 teaspoons anise extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, kosher salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cardamom.
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream the butter and sugar until light. Add the one whole egg and beat to combine. Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the anise and vanilla extract.
- Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and beat on lowest speed until just combined. Place a layer of plastic wrap directly on the dough, then tightly cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or preferably about 24 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Roll the dough into 1- to 1¼-inch balls and place on prepared baking sheets. Bake 8 to 14 minutes, rotating pans about halfway through, until bottoms of the cookies are just beginning to turn golden. Remove pans from oven and let cookies rest on the sheets for 3 to 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy plain or top as desired. Store layers of cookies between sheets of wax paper in an airtight container.
Notes
Topping Options:
• Confectioners’ sugar: Place about ¼ cup of confectioners’ sugar in a sifter or fine sieve and dust over the cookies until they are lightly covered.
• Glaze: Sift 1 cup of confectioners’ sugar into a medium bowl. Whisk in a pinch of table salt. Then whisk in 1½ tablespoons of milk followed by 1 teaspoon of anise extract. The mixture should be thin enough to drizzle—add more confectioners’ sugar or more milk to adjust consistency as needed. Drizzle the glaze over the cookies. Let the glaze dry completely before storing the cookies.