Classic Cut Vegan Anise Cookies

When I discussed making anatomically correct cookies last week, anise cutouts were truly the base of the inspiration. Another annual mother-daughter(s) event, decorating these cookies was one of the highlights of my year and, despite no longer celebrating Christmas, I cannot help but continue this seasonal tradition on my own.

Unfortunately with age the patience to make body part cookies has worn ever so slightly thin. Must regress again to childhood.

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Classic Cut Vegan Anise Cookies

Based on a classic family recipe (that is itself based on a recipe from Betty Crocker's Cooky Book), everyone in mine seems to have a preference for how these cookies are made. Some like them burnt, some don’t like sugar sprinkles and others express size preferences. See notes for tips on how to get what you want out of your cookie.

Ingredients

• 115 grams Trex (shortening) ¾ cup
• 200 grams white sugar 1 cup
• 1 teaspoon anise extract (or 2 teaspoons ground anise)
• 350 grams all purpose flour 2 ½ cups
• 1 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt (fine)
• 4 tablespoons non-dairy milk (e.g. soy, almond)

Instructions

• Use a stand mixer or hand mixer to whip shortening, sugar, and extract together until combined.
• Add flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Mix on low speed. The mixture will be quite dry. Add the non-dairy milk 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together.
• Break the dough into two lumps and place in a covered container and refrigerate for at least one hour.
• When read to make cookies, preheat the oven to 200 degrees C (400 F).
• Lightly flour your countertop and roll one of the lumps of dough to ⅛ inch thickness. Cut with a 3-4 inch cookie cutter and place the shapes on an ungreased baking sheet. Decorate with sprinkles or coloured sugar if desired.
• Bake for 6-8 minutes, until golden. 

Notes

Here are a few tips to get what you want out of your cookie:

• To obtain a crisp and slightly burnt cookie roll the dough out very thinly and/or use smaller cookie cutters and/or increase baking time by a minute or three.
• If you prefer a softer end result, don’t go thinner than ⅛ inch and err on the side lesser cooking.
• To piss off your uncle, put a tonne of coloured sugar on as decoration. Of course I don’t know this out of experience or anything.
• For evenness in cooking, try to make sure all the cookies in the oven at one time are of uniform size and thickness.