I spent countless hours baking with my Mom, who felt KitchenAid was the best you could get! When I got married, my Dad bought me my KitchenAid mixer, so our family recipes lived on. We do an Easter Cookie that was my Dad's favorite. It is more of a bread dough consistency. I love the way the KitchenAid works through what could be a difficult dough to handle. When my niece and God Daughter got engaged, her shower gift from us was - of course- a Kitchenaid!! Dad was smiling from heaven.
My Dad's favorite Easter cookie recipe was from his Mom that brought the recipe over from Italy, but nothing was written down. So, through the years we tweaked it, and this was the recipe that would challenge the mixers we had before KitchenAid. It's the perfect recipe for the double bowls because you can make the heavy duty dough and then - without washing a thing - go on to make the icing. Enjoy!
Easter Cookies
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
4 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. anise extract
2 Tbsp. anise seeds
Cream butter and add sugar. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together and add to bowl, mixing until blended. Add milk, anise seeds and extract flavoring. Roll into 8" strips and then knot each strip. Bake at 350 for approximately 10-12 minutes.
Top with buttercream icing when cool:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
4-5 Tbsps. milk
A few drops of your favorite food coloring (we sometimes divide the icing for several spring colors)
Cream butter, add sugar, then add vanilla and milk. When icing is finished, add a few drops of food coloring. Ice the cookies with the buttercream icing and top with sugar sprinkles. Enjoy!!