Anise Cookies
Mary Ann’s handwritten recipe for the cookies
Growing up, one of my favorite holiday traditions was making Christmas cookies with my mom, Mary Ann Orant Chernesky. Each year, we’d bake batches of chocolate chip; chocolate chip with walnuts; and peanut butter blossoms – but the stand-out, family-and-friend favorite were her cut-out anise cookies.
We’d spend hours in our Kingston kitchen, listening to Christmas music while baking. The anise cookies were so popular that we’d make two or three batches to gift to family and friends during the Christmas season – always presented on a pretty plate or in a festive tin. (My mom was sure to have plenty ready to take to New York City when we visited Aunt Ann and our Zekauskas family each December.) Eventually, she’d make them for Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, and Halloween, too. To me, though, they always tasted like Christmas, and for this holiday season, I’m happy to share her recipe.
John, age 11, using a 4th-generation cookie cutter
Mary Ann’s Anise Christmas Cookies
Ingredients
1.5 cups of sugar
1 level tablespoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
Pinch of salt
4 cups of flour, plus up to 1 additional cup
1 lb. unsalted butter
3 extra large eggs
6 tablespoons whole milk
Anise extract (to preference)
Directions
Step 1 – Make Dough
Mix sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, and 4 cups of flour. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, mix butter, eggs, milk, and extract (amount to your preference) until well combined.
Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, at medium speed.
Incorporate remaining cup of flour as needed, ¼ cup at a time, until dough forms easily.
Remove dough from bowl and shape into a ball on a floured board with floured hands.
Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour up to 1 day.
Step 2 – Make Cookies
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Flour a board and a rolling pin liberally
Roll out dough, working in small batches
Use floured cookie cutters to create shapes
Add to parchment-lined baking sheet
Add sanding sugar, if desired.
Bake for 8-10 minutes until edges are golden brown.
Cool on wire racks.
Decorate with cookie icing, if desired.
Yield: Approximately 150 cookies
In 2015, my mom passed away, and that year, I just couldn’t bake without her here. In the years since, my son, John, and I have enjoyed making cookies together, using her recipe, rolling pin, and cookie cutters, including a few that had belonged to my dad’s mom, Blanche Zekauskas (Ann’s sister).
And, as we’ve continued the tradition, we’ve made some updates, too. John likes to ice the cookies so we bake a few batches plain. My husband, Matt, prefers us to use vanilla extract (about 3 teaspoons) instead of anise. (Either work well, and so would lemon or almond.) No matter your baking traditions, or how you adapt classic family recipes, I hope being in the kitchen brings you joy and peace this holiday season.
–Suzy