Gluten-Free Italian Anise Cookies (Vegan, Allergy-Free)

A traditional Italian cookie, these Gluten-Free Anise Cookies are so easy to make! They're vegan, allergy-free, flavored with anise extract, and perfect for your holiday cookie platter! Soft and aromatic cookies with a sweet, subtle licorice flavor and simple icing glaze with sprinkles! Anisette cookies are a classic Italian dessert you'll be making year-round!

Whether you have that Italian blood in you or not, this classic Italian cookie is a must make for the holidays! Simple, soft, and tender cookies, flavored with sweet and aromatic anise extract, topped with a super simple glaze, and doused in colorful sprinkles! I was always drawn to them as a kid because of the colorful rainbow sprinkles. This gluten-free recipe is the perfect replacement for us celiacs and they're vegan and allergy-free too, so everyone can grab a cookie from the plate!

What Are Anise Cookies?

History lesson for you. Anise cookies originated in Germany, but variations of the cookie spread throughout Europe. In Italy, the traditional anise cookie, or "angelonies," is made with anisette, which is an Italian liqueur flavored with aniseed. This is why Italian's typically say "Anisette Cookies". However, it's a lot cheaper and easier to pick up a bottle of anise extract at the grocery store and what you'll find in commercially made anise cookies! Unless that is, you go to a real Italian bakery!

What Does Anisette Taste Like?

Anisette, or anise, is fragrant and sweet with the flavors of black licorice and citrus notes. Not to be confused with star anise, which is the sweet fruit of a small evergreen tree, while aniseed comes from the seeds of a plant and is also known as "sweet cumin". Now, it's not as strong as black licorice, it is sweeter and more subtle, but you probably won't like anise cookies if you despise anything licorice!

Ingredients For The Gluten-Free Anise Cookies

These are so simple, you'll be making them year-round, not just for Christmas or Easter!

• Gluten-Free Baking Flour
• Baking Powder
• Granulated Sugar Sweetener
• Unsweetened Non-Dairy Milk
• Vegan/Allergy-Free Butter
• Commercial Egg Replacer
• Pure Anise Extract

For the Icing:

• Powdered Sugar Sweetener
• Water
• Rainbow Nonpareils

How to Make Italian Anise Cookies

The ingredients you need are simple and so is the process to make them!

1. Mix together the dry ingreindts, then add the wet and knead the dough together with your hands to work in the butter.
2. Roll 12-14 balls of dough, about a tablespoon each or 1 to 1.5 inch balls, and space them out on a baking sheet
3. Bake them for 10 to 12 minutes at 375°F. Remove them from the oven and let those babies cool before icing!
4. Make the glaze by mixing in just enough water to make the powdered sugar drippy, then dip the tops of the cooled cookies in the icing and then into the sprinkles.

Baking Tips and Storage

• You can bake the cookies ahead of time, however, don't ice them until the day you plan on serving them. Rainbow nonpareils tend to bleed their color when they become wet from the icing so, you're cookies will look a bit sad. You can always use a white sprinkle or other variety you know won't bleed if you choose to do so!
• If you want a super-strong anise flavor you can add a bit of the anise extract to the icing glaze too, not just the cookie dough.
• If you hate anise, but really...really, want to make these cookies, you can use another extract like lemon, which will still give you a sweet citrusy flavor!
• Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. You can freeze the baked or unbaked cookie balls, un-iced, for up to 3-4 months. Thaw the baked cookies in the fridge and then at room temperature before icing them. You can bake frozen cookie balls directly from the freezer, adding a few extra minutes to the bake time.

Subtly sweet, soft, and tender the see Italian cookies are probably one of the easiest traditional Italian cookies you can make! Festive and fun, they are a must for any allergy-friendly cookie platter!

• Gluten-Free
• Vegan
• Allergy-free (Dairy-Free, Soy-Free, Egg-Free, Nut-Free, Peanut-Free, Wheat-Free, Sesame-Free, Corn-Free, Coconut-Free)
• Low in Sugar or Sugar-Free
• Kid-Friendly
• Quick and Easy

Other Delicious Italian Cookies to Try:

• Grain-Free Amaretto Cookies
• Grain-Free Italian Wedding Snowball Cookies
• Chocolate Chip Teff Biscotti
• Italian Lemon Knot Cookies

Gluten-Free Italian Anise Cookie Recipe

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For all my celiac Italians out there, have no fear! You can still enjoy your anisette cookies and this gluten-free (and vegan!) recipe may just beat grandmas.

So tell me:

+ Are you a complete hater of licorice?

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