*Have you entered the holiday giveaway yet?*
I have to admit that I’m not the biggest fan of cookies. Besides being a huge challenge for a gluten-free baker, they just aren’t as interesting as cakes or as chocolaty as brownies. But come every Christmas, there’s always one cookie that has my heart: I love Italian anise cookies. Growing up Italian-American, my relatives always bought these for me fresh from an Italian bakery. I love the sharp licorice flavor with a super sweet frosting. I couldn’t imagine Christmas without them, so this year I tried to adapt the recipe to be gluten-free. After 2 batches, I came out with the perfect, sinfully good Christmas cookies.
Gluten-Free Italian Christmas Cookies
Ingredients(Makes 20 cookies):
- 2 cups gluten-free all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup neutral flavored oil(not coconut oil and not butter)
- 1 1/2 eggs, lightly beaten(see here how to measure this)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons anise extract
*If you’re making these with regular flour, use just 1 egg
Sift the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the oil, eggs, and extract.
Combine the dough by mixing until it’s firm and the flour has been all absorbed. Put the dough in the refrigerator to chill 30-60 minutes.
Preheat an oven to 350 degrees with the baking trays inside the oven to warm them up. When the oven is ready, take out the baking trays, line them with parchment paper, and roll the dough into 3/4-inch balls lining them up with enough room to spread. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the outside starts to turn slightly brown and the center is almost set. Take them out of the oven and let them set completely before moving them to another tray.
These taste just like the cookies from the bakery: Soft and slightly cakey yet still sugary dense. The anise flavor is strong, so you’ll want to give these to a true lover. And the icing—oh, the icing. But that’s for another day.
Mmm…cookies…
this just isnt right: “I have to admit that I’m not the biggest fan of cookies”
No, that’s heresy! kidding
i love cookies but youre right, GF baking is hard AND combine that w/ vegan baking and it’s a beast. Espi on things like sugar-ish cookies. Jenna of ELR just made some vegan sugar cookies but theyre not vegan and yours are GF but not vegan. It’s sooo hard to get both vegan + GF but…worth trying…b/c i love cookies
The problem with baking gluten-free and vegan is that baking is dependent on protein structures. When you’re missing gluten, often egg whites is the easiest form of protein to substitute. Similarly, when you omit eggs, then the wheat becomes the essential binder in recipes. In order to cook Gluten-free/vegan, you need to base your recipe’s structure with starches instead of protein. It’s especially hard to do this with cookies because there’s no structure for the baked good to rely on like a cupcake tin or cake pan.
Exactly…it all boils down to protein and structure. Egg proteins or the wheat gluten/protein/structure.
Which is why most GF vegan baked goods are dry..in order to get them to “hold together” you have to cook them til they are very well done. Bordering on crumbly. Or underdone and are gooey/raw.
That’s why muffins are always a lifesaver…the gooey factor is contained in the liner.
There is a reason why my sister just got her PhD in food science. I could go Alton Brown on you all day. And so could she, but she has the education to back it up
Whereas i am edcuated in the kitchen school of hard knocks lol
simple cookies, simple flavor and simple icing. sometimes simple IS the best
they look easy and tasty!!!
I love these cookies! I know people think cookies aren’t as exciting as their fancier dessert cousins, but they are so homey. Great job!
Wow, these look beautiful! I used to loathe making cookies because they’d never turn out (I’m talking Nestle Tollhouse, here, haha), but now I love experimenting with vegan cookies, even if they don’t turn out. Ironic, right?
YES! Perfect recipe for the gluten-free individuals in my Italian family
Now I need a gluten free pizzelle (which are actually quite similar to the above recipe, I would think….they are just flat!).
Oh I’ll definitely try to come up with a GF pizzelle recipe when I’m back home. One of my Christmas gifts 2 years ago was a pizzelle press
Just a quick question if anyone can answer. Do you need to add Xantham to these? Thanks for the help.
Nope! No need for xanthan gum.
Thanks so much for the quick response.
I’m glad these don’t use xanthan gum, I saw what it actually was on a documentary recently – yuk! These look like good cookies, I’ve never come across anise extract before, but I shall look out for it now
Thanks for a great recipe