Recipe Review – Star Anise Cookies in “The Illustrated Cook’s Book of Ingredients.”
I have long been fascinated with the spice called “Star Anise.” It is used primarily in Asian cuisine but also in Malay, Indian, Pakistani, and Vietnamese. It is a recent newcomer to the West with a flavor like that of Anise, although they are unrelated plants.
Recently having purchased some Star Anise I have been looking for a dish I could use it in. Today, while browsing through a new book, I was reading the section about Star Anise and it had a recipe for cookies made with this spice. The recipe is simple and so I could not resist.
The recipe is from the book “The Illustrated Cook’s Book of Ingredients” which was given to me as a gift.
I liked the results and so am sharing them with you here. Two things however, I will change with the next batch I make will be to reduce the baking temperature to 350 degrees because the cookies baked a little bit too much even with checking and rotating at 5 minutes and taking them out at 10. I will also increase the amount of Star Anise in the dish because I find this amount providing too subtle a flavor. I would like to taste more of the Star Anise flavoring in the cookie.
Here is the recipe:
STAR ANISE COOKIES
Ingredients
8 Star Anise Seeds
1 c Self Rising Flour*
1 t Baking Powder
1/4 c Brown Sugar
4 T Honey
7 T Butter, melted
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Remove seeds from pods and finely grind in a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle.
Combine flour, baking powder, and brown sugar with ground Star Anise seeds. Stir in the honey and then the butter. Mix well until smooth.
Lightly grease a baking sheet (or two) or line with parchment paper. Drop cookie dough by teaspoonfuls onto the baking sheet, lightly pressing with your hand keeping 2 inches between to allow for spreading.
Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until just beginning to turn golden. The cookies may still be a little soft when they come out of the oven, but will become crisper as they cool.
These are good served with a glass of dessert wine.
* I did not have self-rising flour on hand so I substituted with 1 c flour, 1 1/2 t Baking Powder, and 1/2 t Salt.
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