The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap: Greek Almond-Anise Cookies

And, the holiday baking continues!!  The only thing better than holiday baking, is holiday baking for a cookie swap.  Last week I participated in the 1st annual Great Blogger Cookie Swap, hosted by Lindsay from Love & Olive Oil and Julie from The Little Kitchen.  (Thanks so much for organizing such a awesome event ladies!)  Here's how it worked....I got the name of three other food bloggers and sent them each a dozen of my cookies, and in return I received a dozen cookies each from three secret food bloggers.  Making someones day with a box of homemade cookies, coming home from a long day of work to find boxes of fresh cookies on my doorstep and finding six new cooking blogs....that's a win-win, if you ask me!

Over 600 bloggers joined in this year's cookie swap, which means over 22,000 cookies passing through the mail last week.  That's a lot of cookies!  Last Monday I packed up these tasty cookies in festive boxes and sent them off to Table for Two, A Chronic Venture and Food Beautiful.  Shortly thereafter the cookies started rolling in!  I was lucky enough to get, Dried Cranberry & White Chocolate Cookies from Monique at I Are the Food Snob, minty Peppermint Swirl Sugar Cookies from Katherine at Red Rover and color & festive Lemon Cookies AND an awesome red spatula from Heather at Levavi Spatulas.  These cookies were sooo delicious, thanks so much ladies!!

If you're interested in participating in next year's Cookie Swap (I know I am!), sign up here for email updates!

I had a hard time deciding which to cookies to make.  Since the cookies were being shipped and wouldn't be eaten for at least a few days, I knew I needed something that would hold up well, and wouldn't dry out too quickly.  That narrowed the field a little bit.  When I spotted this recipe, it was a no brainer.  While I was traveling in Greece quite a few years ago I fell in love with these cookies!  It was a cookie love affair like no other.  I must have brought dozens and dozens of cookies home with me.....I couldn't get enough.  It was a sad day when my cookie stash ran out.  I went on a mission to replicate these cookies.  I tried a handful of different recipes.  They were all good, but none of them were quite the same as what I brought home from Greece.  I eventually stopped trying to recreate these cookies, and after a while forgot about them all together.....until I saw this recipe.  The second I saw this recipe, I was flooded with flashbacks of my travels in Greece.....and each bite of these cookies brings back the same wonderful memories. 

Print Recipe

Greek Almond-Anise Cookies

(Adapted from Martha Stewart Holiday, 2009)

Makes approx. 4 dozen

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 pound (4 sticks) butter, softened

2 2/3 cups confectioners sugar

2 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup almonds, finely chopped

2 teaspoons anise seed

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking power and salt.

In a large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.  Add 2/3 cup confectioners sugar, egg yolks and vanilla, and beat until combined.  Beat in flour until just combined, then fold in almonds and anise seed.

Chill dough at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Roll a tablespoon-size piece of dough between your palms to form a ball.  Press gently to flatten the ball into a disc.  Place cookies on the parchment-lined baking sheets, and bake til lightly golden on the bottom, about 12-14 minutes.

Transfer baking sheets to wire racks to cool cookies completely.  

Place remaining 2 cups of confectioners sugar in a large bowl.  Working in batches, drop a few cookies in at a time, turning to coat thoroughly with sugar.  Repeat if necessary.

Enjoy!