½ pound salted butter, melted and cooled until just a touch warm
¼ C extra virgin olive oil
1 C sugar
3 eggs
Zest and juice of one orange
2 t vanilla extract
2 t anise seeds, crushed
4-5 C all purpose flour
½ t baking soda
2 t baking powder
1 egg beaten with 2 T water for an egg wash
Sesame seeds (optional)
In a large bowl combine the butter, olive oil, and sugar. Whisk in the eggs until blended and add the zest and juice of the orange, vanilla, and crushed anise, mix to combine. Add 4C flour, baking soda, and baking powder and mix with your hands until well combined. At this point you will need to decide if you need the additional cup of flour. Typically I use 5C total flour when I make them, but depending on the time of year or humidity you may or may not need all the flour, or you may need more. Take a small nugget of dough and see if you can roll in on a work surface. When you are new at this you will want to lightly flour the board you are working on, but as you get better at it you won’t need the flour.
Once the dough is completed heat the oven to 350 and place parchment paper on two large cookie sheets. Using a one ounce scoop I scoop all the dough onto my work surface. Taking one ball of dough at a time I shape into the long twist shape or fast “s” shape (see pictures). Place the cookies on a parchment lined cookie sheet, they can be fairly close together since they won’t spread or rise very much. Once all the cookies have been shaped brush them with the egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds if desired and place in a preheated oven and bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool completely before packing. It’s always fun to eat one or two warm out of the oven when they are still soft and buttery tasting, but the flavors are really better the next day.
Makes around 4 dozen cookies.
