Anise Pierniki (Polish Christmas Cookies)
These tender Polish Pierniki Christmas Cookies are a holiday favorite. The licorice-flavored cookies capture the holiday spirit with a generous topping of festive sprinkles.
Servings 4 dozen cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 2 egg yolks
- 3 cups all-purpose flour plus more for rolling
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 6 Tablespoons milk
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon anise extract or oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Frosting
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 6-8 Tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon anise extract or oil optional
- Assorted sprinkles
Instructions
- In a stand mixer cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the anise, egg yolks, and milk, beating to combine. In a separate bowl, sift baking powder and salt into flour, then add to wet ingredients, mixing until incorporated. Dough will be thick and sticky.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour, or up to 1 day.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350° degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Flour your workstation moderately, as well as your hands and rolling pin. Take half of the dough and dust it with flour, knead it into a ball, then roll it out to about ¼ inch thick, dusting the cookie dough with flour sparingly, but as needed to manage the dough.
- Cut with cookie cutters. Place cookies on prepared cookie sheets.
- Bake for 7-10 minutes, until edges are just barely golden
- Remove from oven and cool on pans for 3-4 minutes, then remove to cooling rack with a metal spatula.
- Buttercream Frosting
- Combine ingredients in a small bowl and beat until a fluffy buttercream consistency is reached, adding milk or sugar as necessary to thicken or thin the frosting.
- Gently spread frosting on each cookie and decorate with sprinkles as desired.
- Allow the frosted cookies to set on a wire cooling rack, for the frosting to set before packaging and storing.
Notes
Yields depend on thickness and size of cutter.
All ovens run slightly different. Set the timer for about half the recommended bake time, especially with new recipes. It is always a good idea to turn your cookies sheets halfway through baking time, and this quick check in half-way through also lets you monitor the progress of the baking, and fine-tune the baking time without running the risk of over-baking the cookies.