Recipe#7361

Title: Anise 02

From: "Miriam Siebenthall" miriam@twg.com 
 Newsgroups: rec.food.recipes 
 Subject: Anise Cookie Recipe 
 Date: 31 Mar 1994 21:18:15 -0500 
 Organization: The Wollongong Group, Inc., Palo Alto, CA 
 Message-ID: <2ng097$1v0@s.ms.uky.edu> 

2 Cups Flour
 2 Tsp ground Anise seed (you can substitute 1 Tsp anise extract.)
 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
 1/8 Tsp Salt
 1 large lemon
 2/3 Cup Sugar
 1/2 Cup vegetable shortening
 5 1/5 Tbsp unsalted butter
 1 egg yolk
 1 tsp vanilla extract
 Decoration:
 1 Tbsp sugar
 1 Tsp ground cinnamon
 Thoroughly stir together flour, anise, baking powder, and slat and set
 aside.  Using a small sharp knife peel a thin layer of zest (without
 white membrane) from the entire lemon.  Combine lemon zest and sugar in
 a food processor fitted with a steel blade.  Process until zest is very
 finely minced.  Add shortening and butter to the processor and process
 for one minute.  Add egg yolk and vanilla and process 20 seconds
 longer.  Add dry ingredients and continue processing just until they
 are blended.
 Divide dough in half and place each portion between large sheets of
 waxed paper and roll out to 1/8 inch thick.  Check the underside of the
 dough to check for any creases.  Slide dough onto a large tray or
 baking sheet and refrigerate for 15 minutes, or until the dough is
 chilled and slightly firm.
 Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Lightly grease several baking sheets.
 Work one half of the dough at at time.  Turn the dough over and peel
 the sheet of wax paper off of the dough and replace the paper loosely.
 Then turn the dough right side up.  Peel off and discard the top sheet
 of paper.  Using assorted 2 1/4 to 3" cookie cutters cut out cookies.
 Place in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes or until just brown ant the
 edges.  Remove from the oven and let stand for 3 minutes.  Transfer to
 wire racks and let stand until cooled completely.  Sprinkle cookies
 with the decoration mixture.
 Makes 35 to 40 cookies.