These Holiday Cookies Taste Just Like the Ones My Great-Grandma Used To Make

At the holidays, I always think of my great-grandmother’s hands rolling pasta and baking anise crescents. They looked like powdered sugar-coated Italian wedding cookies, but with a secret: anise extract. I’ve found versions in bakeries and packaged shelf-stable options, but they aren’t quite right; they’re missing the hands rolling them, family history, and love-infused nostalgic flavor.

Our family-favorite ginger cookie recipe is a go-to from Allrecipes, so I made one last search and found this Italian Cookies with Anise recipe—it’s the perfect stand-in for our missing family recipe.

My great-grandmother’s anise cookies were my dad’s favorite. I’ve imagined the recipe coming with my ancestors through Ellis Island in the 1920s before it was lost decades ago. I had no idea what anise was as a child, but now I equate it with my heritage as much as Sunday sauce or meatballs. With that nostalgia in mind, I’ve added Allrecipes contributor AliciaVR6’s recipe to my holiday baking lineup.

How to Make Italian Cookies with Anise

In the spirit of family, I tried her Aunt Nin’s version and felt transported to my childhood in just an hour. The main ingredients are familiar: butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, flour, milk, confectioners’ sugar, and baking powder. The magic is in the proportions of this short cookie enhanced with anise’s licorice magic. This flavor is the perfect balance of vanilla and the darker anise. The memories flow when I feel the dough in my adult hands, a light anise scent lingering as I make dough balls, and then the crescents. A 4-ingredient glaze, infused with the same anise extract, ensures the cookies are flavored throughout. I’m not the only one with a soft spot for this recipe—the comment section is full of nostalgia, too.

I did vary from the suggested figure-8 form and made the crescent moons I remember. In the spirit of new traditions, I switched from powdered sugar to the suggested anise icing and sprinkles for a little extra holiday sparkle. This new recipe sprinkles familiar flavors, family, and memories into my holidays and recipe box.

Get the recipe: Italian Cookies with Anise