Brown Sugar-Anise Cookies Recipe (2024)

if the dough needs to be chilled, heating the oven should be step 4.

these are fast, easy and yum. let the dough stand at room temp for about 5minutes before you start rolling or it will crumble apart.i used a lot more seeds and a little more sugar. can't wait to have them with coffee in the morning.jean's suggestion of cinnamon sugar would be great as would be grated lemon or orange rind, sugar and thyme. pretty much anything would work. it's a great base cookie.

Do not chill before rolling out. That’s like trying to roll out a hockey puck. Simply roll out between two sheets of parchment paper (or parchment on top and silicone mat on the bottom) to desired thickness and then chill. Bake right on the paper/mat. Easy peasy.

hi AG - any recipe that calls for a stand mixer can almost always be made with a handheld mixer.

My Mother used cinnamon sugar. We loved them.

Made these last night and they were delicious! I used demerara sugar to coat the tops. The anise flavor is not overpowering at all and is really delicious. I wonder if a little cardamom would also complement the cookies.

This is a lot easier than the recipe makes it seem: just skip all the chilling - it comes out perfectly fine. And skip the parchment paper: use waxed paper in the rolling out step - no sticking, no worries, just be careful when you put the rolled dough onto the pan, loosen the waxed paper first so you can ease it out from under.

I divided the dough and placed into gallon sized ziplock bags, rolled out to size, then straight to the freezer. When I was ready to bake, I just cut off the bag and it was ready to go! Easy prep and minimal mess to clean up

No need to overthink this recipe. I never chill the dough, roll it out directly on parchment and slide onto cookie sheet. The edges can be rough. That's part of the charm. Top with whatever you have on hand ( anise is my favorite, but sesame, cardamom or cinnamon are also delicious). Super easy and always tasty.

Meh. By baking it as one big cookie, too much soft crumbly center. After chilling, dough cracked badly when trying to roll, had to let it warm up again. Not as flavorful as I'd expected. Made recipe by weights, exactly as specified. Won't bake it again.

Two things- 1) Not sure wheee to get anise seed, so we ground up star anise pods in the spice grinder and used the power (sifting out chunks). 2) These are easy to over bake and dry out, especially since they cool on the baking sheet it continues cooking out of the oven. The first half I did to deeply golden were too dry (18 min). The second half I took out at 15 min and was much better. Otherwise easy and will definitely make again!

I skipped the cornstarch after reading these were super crumbly. With just the 2 c flour these came out as a perfectly buttery shortbread. A lovely base for any flavor you can think of. I love a non traditional cookie to add to the mix, I will come back to this and modify again and again.

My dough was quite dry. I had to microwave it for 10 seconds to get everything to stick together. Came out great, though.

What if you don't own a stand mixer?

Make sure your butter is truly softened and use a whisk. Switch to a big spoon/spatula when you add the dry ingredients.

Love these cookies. I’ve made them three times. Agree with other postings, leave the corn starch out, it makes them way too crumbly. I accidentally used dark brown sugar the second time, they baked up just fine. And they taste as good, if not better, than the ones made with light brown sugar. Extra anis seeds do amp up the flavor. The third time, I made them with finely chopped pistachios pressed in, before the egg wash and sugar. Delicious.

Just made these as part of my cookie gift boxes! They are delicious. Made exactly per the recipe. Used Demerara sugar per others’ suggestion.

Could you use fennel seeds instead if the anise?

Very good. W/stand mixer comes together very easily. I froze 1/2. Doubled anise seeds. Easy.

I'm a bit late to the party, but that's good for the ones attempting this now. These are seriously yummy. A huge hit. I made them as directed, except I didn't chill the dough (would have been impossible to roll out), but just put it in the fridge for an hour, rolled between a silpat and parchment paper, and then chilled them for an hour. They did come out a bit too oily and sweet; next time I would pack the flour cups. Don't skip the starch.

followed recipe no substitutions. Dough was crumbling and cracking when rolling out, used saran wrap over dough for rolling with better results. tasted very good. liked the anise seed flavor. next time will bake one sheet at a time and rotate as baked together one sheet was slightly over done and other slightly under done.

I've never had a cookie like this before! Amazing flavor. I had no idea anise could taste and smell like this; this cookie opened my mind to new possibilities for anise. I am salivating writing this description because I remember the way the kitchen smelled when these were in the oven. My family loved them and were very impressed.

These are amazing and I will make them again. I was worried about how dry and crumbly the dough was. Chilling the dough and then trying to roll it out created this cracked dough. But cooking it made it all melt together, edges were still rustic. It would be helpful for the original recipe to discuss texture and consistency

I love these!

I added some orange juice to the dough for extra flavor- turned out really yummy!

Simple and delicious. My daughter said that it tasted just liked it smelled when it was baking...

As others have noted, this is a buttery shortbread cookie that lends itself to variations. I made one version with lemon zest and poppy seeds, another with cardamom seeds (a hit!), and yet another with Ottolenghi’s speculaas spice mix and sesame seeds. A keeper for sure.

Excellent! Delicate, so handle with care. (It's been a while since I made them, I might have used turbinado sugar rather than sparkling or sanding ....)

When I started to roll out the dough it looked a little crumbly but I just smooth the dough together, keeping the rustic nature of the end shape in mind. These are a new favorite. For being so simple they are delicious with a cup of coffee.

Read all the comments, and yes, result is very crumbly. Also, the fridge, roll, and freeze instructions don't seem essential to me. After the fridge, I would have had to wait more than 1 hour to roll out the hockey puck. So I put it on the radiator, and then after 20 minutes, made a ball, rolled and ditched the freezing. Want it to hold together more? Add an egg, reduce the butter by 20%, and increase the sugar by same. Yes, that's pretty much like Shortbread! And Sesame seed version was great!