SC - European Food

[JVButlerJr@aol.com]

This recipe is a lot like a family recipe for waffle cookies
(wafers), except you don't use the iron for this recipe. 
Also, somewhere along the way butter came into use and is in
the family recipe.  interesting how things work.  I can
document my family recipe back to the early 1800s.

> Anise Sugar Cookies
> 
> Ingredients:
> 2 large eggs
> 8 egg yolks
> 1 pound wheat starch (approx. 4 scant cups)
> 1 pound sugar (approx. 2 cups + 5 tablespoons)
> 2 teaspoons ground anise seed
> 1 teaspoon salt
> additional sugar for sprinkling
> 
> Preheat the oven to 325º F.  Place the eggs and egg yolks in the bowl of an
> electric mixer.  Beat on medium for a minute.  Gradually add the sugar to the
> eggs.  Turn the speed to low and gradually add the starch, salt, and anise to
> the egg mixture.  Beat on medium for 10 minutes.  You will have a thick,
> fluffy
> batter.
> 
> Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.  Alternatively, you may lightly
> grease the pans or use non-stick pans.  Drop the batter by tablespoons 2
> inches apart.  After a moment, they will spread out on the pan, and will
> spread
> further during baking.  Sprinkle lightly with sugar.
> 
> Place in preheated oven.  Bake for approximately 10 minutes, until the
> cookies
> are set and a toothpick or knife-blade comes out clean.  The cookies should
> not be browned on top; there should be no more than a slight hint of golden
> color around the edges.  Remove carefully from the pan with a spatula.
> Cookies will be soft when they are first removed and may be prone to
> breakage.  They become firmer as they cool.  Cool on  racks.  Store after
> cooling in an air-tight container.   Makes approximately 5 dozen 3-inch
> cookies.
> 
> Notes: I found wheat starch at my local Chinese grocery.  If it is not
> available
> in your area, substituting all-purpose flour would probably work.  Another
> recipe for bizcocho in the same cookbook calls for either starch or flour.
> Egg
> quantities were reduced on the assumption that medieval eggs were smaller.  I
> tried using parchment paper, but found that cookies were much easier to
> remove intact from greased pans.
> Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
> Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)
> mka Robin Carroll-Mann
> harper at idt.net