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Tadals, Italian-American Anise Cookie

Yield: About 6 dozen 1" cookies
Eat right after frosting for a tender, cake-like cookie, or let age in a covered container a day and dunk in coffee. 
Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 6 eggs
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 1/4 cup oil, canola or vegetable
  • 1 cup milk
  • 6 TBSP baking powder
  • 5 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1-2 tsp anise powder (use more or less to your taste)

For icing:

  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 1/2 sticks soft butter (6 ounces)
  • 3 T to 1 cup room temperature milk (milk will vary depending on how thick you'd like your frosting)
  • Food coloring (optional)
  • Sprinkles (optional)

Instructions
 

  • In large mixing bowl, or large bowl of standing mixer, whisk together eggs, sugar, oil & milk. 
  • Stir in flour, baking powder, anise. Mix evenly.
  • Let dough chill in fridge until easy to shape into balls (about an hour.) Or, if you're not so picky about the tidiness of your cookies, skip this step. 
  • When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
  • Scoop 1" balls of dough onto parchment (if dough is chilled, you can roll the dough in your hands to make smooth balls, and gently pat down). Leave plenty of space for cookies to grow.
  • Bake cookies for about 16 minutes, rotating after the first 8 minutes, until lightly brown on top and puffy. Let cool on a rack before frosting. 

For frosting:

  • Mix together powdered sugar and butter, either using a paddle attachment on a stand mixer, or in a bowl with a rubber spatula. 
  • Slowly drizzle in milk until you've reached desired thickness. Leave it thick if you want it to be a spreadable frosting (like in the picture), or if you'd like to dunk cookies in icing, add more milk.
    Note: if your milk is too cold, it will curdle the butter. If that happens, it's not game over, but it might take a bit of muscle or paddling in a mixer to get the butter back to how it should be.
  • Add a few drops of food coloring, if you'd like. Frost or ice cookies, add a dash of sprinkles, and enjoy!