The Best Gluten Free Italian Anisette or S Shape Cookies

The Best Gluten Free Italian Anisette or S Shape Cookies

Today I’m sharing The Best Gluten Free Italian Anisette or S Shape Cookies recipe. Eating gluten free can sometimes be challenging, especially around the holidays. This recipe is made gluten free and it’s also my favorite Easter cookie recipe!

The Italian Anisette cookie is sometimes called the S shape cookie because well it’s shaped as an S shape cookie! Today I’ve made these cookies gluten free so many of us can still enjoy our favorite Italian cookie.

I’ve also changed the shape of the cookie just a little because I like a thicker cookie. I share in the recipe what I did, but the ingredients are still the same.

The Italian anisette cookie has been my favorite cookie since I was a little girl! My honorary Italian grandmother Mrs. Bucceri would make us these wonderful assorted Italian cookies at Easter. She would send the cookies home with my dad all wrapped in a wax paper wrap placed inside of a white box with a bow.

It was such a special treat for my family to receive these delicious assortment of Italian cookies. My dad would always save the Anisette or S shape cookies for me!

Now that I need to eat gluten free I have taken my favorite cookie recipe and created it gluten free.

So let’s get going on making the best gluten free Italian anisette or S shape cookies.

But First a little history on the Anisette Cookie or sometimes called the S shape cookie.

Did you know the Anisette Cookie or S shape cookie is also called the Butter cookie in Greece. In Greece they add clove to the recipe and roll the cookie dough in the powder sugar.

The Anisette cookie originated in Burano Venice.( this may be debated in other regions). They were made only around Easter for the holiday, but now are made at Christmas time as well depending on the Italian region.

I found this information at Redbook some history behind some of our favorite holiday cookies. https://www.redbookmag.com/food-recipes/g25167408/christmas-cookies-history/

Ingredients:

The ingredients in the gluten free Anisette Cookies or S shape cookie are very simple ingredients. You may already have many of the ingredients in your pantry or refrigerator. Anise is mostly used in the Anisette Cookies or S shape cookies, although lemon is used as well and this is what I’m using today.

Crisco: I have chosen to use the Crisco stick butter because I like the texture it brings to this cookie. This is an important ingredient in the cookie. It helps to bind the cookie together and it gives it texture.

White Granulated Sugar: The Italian Anisette cookie is a white in color cookie. Adding brown sugar or syrup types of sugars will change the color and texture of the cookie. It is best to use white granulated sugar for this cookie recipe.

Large Eggs: Room temperature eggs are best, I do like to use the brown cage free organic eggs but any eggs will do.

Gluten Free Vanilla: Pure vanilla has a wonderful flavor but vanilla extract work well, make sure to read ingredients not all vanilla is gluten free.

Lemon: A fresh lemon has better tasting juice than an old lemon and the rime has a sweeter taste, if the lemon is old it will taste bitter.

Gluten Free Flour: Using a gluten free 1 to 1 flour will include ingredients in the flour mix that are needed for baking, such as Sweet White Rice Flour, Brown Rice Flour, and Potato Starch. It also has the Sorghum and Tapioca Flour added along with the addition of Xanthan Gum. This gluten free flour mix is less expensive when purchase this way.

Ingredients Needed for Gluten Free Italian Anisette Cookies

Ingredients:

• 3/4 Cup Crisco Butter Baking Stick
• 1/2 Cup White Sugar use white sugar for this recipe
• 3 Large Eggs at room temperature
• 1 tsp Gluten Free Vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tsp Fresh Lemon Juice from a Lemon or you could use lemon extract
• 1 grated peel of 1 lemon
• 3 Cups Gluten Free Flour King Arthur 1 to 1 measure flour is what I use
• 1 1/2 tsp Gluten Free Baking Powder
• Icing
• 2 tbsp. of Milk I used lactose free skim milk
• 2 Cups Gluten Free Confectioners Sugar
• 1 -1 1/2 tsp of lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp Grated Lemon

How To Make Gluten Free Italian Anisette Cookies

• Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees
• Beat Crisco butter and sugar for dough together in a bowl with an electric mixer until creamy. The Crisco may not cream as well as butter, the batter will be a little stiffer, it does give the cookie a better texture.
• Add eggs, vanilla extract, and lemon juice or lemon extract and blend.
• Combine gluten free flour and gluten free baking powder in a separate bowl, stirring mixture into the Crisco butter mixture until well blended.
• Using a cooking scooper or melon ball scooper, make a ball of dough and roll out to form a rope, do dust the counter with power sugar. Connect the ends and twist into a figure 8 shape. You could make an S shape as well.
• Place on an un-greased baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough.
• Bake in a preheated oven of 350 until the edges are golden light brown, about 10 to 13 minutes. Each oven is different, I bake on convection baking at 325 so my cookies take a bit longer to bake.
• Cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute before removing to a wire rack to cool completely before icing.

How To Make Icing For Gluten Free Italian Anisette or S Shape Cookies

Making The Icing For Italian Anisette Cookies

• Mix the milk into confectioners’ sugar for icing, stirring slowly. Add the lemon juice or lemon extract and vanilla extract, stir.
• Dip cooled cookies into the icing face-down and lay on wax paper or a wire rack to dry icing side up.
• Regular wheat flour works just as well in this recipe by replacing gluten free flour with regular wheat flour.
• Also you could use anise extract in stead of the lemon juice or lemon extract but you’ll cut down the amount to 1/2 teaspoon of anise in the icing mix, add 1 to 1 1/4 teaspoon in the cookie dough ingredients.

Tips:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
• Beat Crisco butter and sugar together in a bowl with an electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs, vanilla extract, and lemon juice or lemon extract and blend set aside.
• Combine gluten free flour and gluten free baking powder in a separate bowl; stir into Crisco, butter sugar mixture until blended.
• Use a cooking scooper or melon ball scooper ball of dough and roll between your hands to form a rope, dust the area with powder sugar to roll out.
• Connect the ends and twist into a figure 8 shape. Place on an un-greased baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough. If you grease the baking sheet the cookie dough may spread.
• Bake in a preheated oven until the edges are golden light brown, about 10 to 13 minutes.
• Cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Icing Mix Tips
• Gradually add milk into confectioners’ sugar, stirring slowly to form a thick consistence.
• Add the lemon juice or lemon extract and vanilla extract to the powder sugar mixture.
• If mixture is too thin add in more of the confectioners sugar.
• Dip cooled cookies one at a time into the icing face-down and lay icing side up on wax paper or a wire rack to dry.
• Also, you could use anise extract instead of the lemon juice or lemon extract, but you’ll cut down the amount to 1/2 teaspoon of anise in the icing mix, depending on how strong of the anise taste you like. Anise is a strong additive.
• Some times the S shape cookie is sprinkled with colorful sprinkles which looks festive for the holiday.

How to Store Gluten Free Italian Anisette Cookies

• Store Gluten Free Italian Anisette Cookies in the refrigerator for up to 5 days in a sealed container or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
• To keep cookies from become hard it is best to store the cookies in an air tight concealed container.

If you like gluten free cookies you might like these https://houseofmar.com/easy-gluten-free-cookies/

Thank you for stopping back by House of Mar, and reading all about The Best Gluten Free Italian Anisette or S Shape Cookies.

I hope you enjoy my gluten free Italian Anisette or S shape cookie recipe as much as my family and I do!

Blessings,

Mary Anne,