Anise Drops

Recipe by PJ Hamel
59 Reviews 4.0 out of 5 stars

Germany, meet France! One bite into these flat, lighter-than-air crisp cookies (a.k.a. Self-Frosting Anise Drops), and you'll recognize the traditional licorice flavor of holiday Springerle. During the long rest period of the scooped cookies, however, some of the egg whites and sugar in the mixture will also have risen to their top surface to form a meringue-type layer that's absolutely reminiscent of French macarons.

Prep
15 mins
Bake
10 mins
Total
8 hrs 25 mins
Yield
4 to 6 dozen cookies
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Anise Drops

Instructions

Prevent your screen from going dark as you follow along.

  1. Whisk the eggs until they're frothy, about two minutes on medium-high speed if using a stand mixer. Add the sugar gradually, beating all the while.

  2. Once the sugar has been added, continue to beat the mixture at medium-high speed for 5 minutes.

  3. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

  4. Sprinkle the dry ingredients onto the egg/sugar mixture, and beat at medium speed for 3 minutes.

  5. Stir in the anise seed.

  6. Drop the dough by teaspoonfuls onto well-greased and well-floured or parchment-lined baking sheets, shaping the dough into rounds with a spoon, if necessary.

  7. Let the cookies stand at room temperature, uncovered, for at least 8 hours. Note: food safety common sense prohibits you from nibbling on any unbaked cookie dough while these cookies are "aging."

  8. When you're ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 325°F. Bake them for about 10 minutes, or until they're a creamy just-golden color, not brown, on the bottom.

  9. Remove the cookies from the oven, wait 5 minutes, then loosen them from the parchment/pan with a spatula. Continue to cool the cookies right on the pan.

Tips from our Bakers

  • This recipe, formerly known as Self-Frosting Anise Drops, used to call for the eggs and sugar to be beaten for 20 minutes. We tested a 5-minute beat vs. 20 minutes, and found it works just fine.

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