Biscochitos

Total Time: 4 hrs 10 mins Preparation Time: 3 hrs 40 mins Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon ground aniseed
• 1/2 teaspoon ground aniseed
• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 tablespoons ice water

Recipe

• 1 put the flour, 3/4 cup of the sugar, the baking powder, salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of the anise in a large bowl and whisk to blend.
• 2 in a small bowl, cut the butter into pea-sized pieces.
• 3 using a pastry blender or your fingertips, work the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal.
• 4 add the egg yolk, vanilla, and ice water and mix with your fingers just until the dough comes together into a ball.
• 5 working on a lightly floured surface, take egg-sized pieces of the dough and smear them away from you with the heel of your hand into 6-inch streaks. (this step helps to achieve the layered texture of the authentic cookie without using lard).
• 6 scrape up all the streaks of dough and pile them on top of one another to form a disk.
• 7 wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
• 8 on a portable (this will be refrigerated again), lightly floured surface, roll the dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch.
• 9 refrigerate for 30 miutes, or until firm.
• 10 set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375°f.
• 11 line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or use a non-stick cookie sheet.
• 12 with a cookie cutter, cut out 2 1/2-inch circles (i use stars), and place them on the cookie sheets about 2-inches apart.
• 13 chill the cookies 10 minutes before baking.
• 14 reroll the scraps of dough and cut out more cookies, chilling before baking.
• 15 meanwhile, mix the remaining 1 tablespoon ground anise and 2 tablespoon sugar together in a small bowl.
• 16 sprinkle a thin layer of the sugar mixture over the cookies.
• 17 bake for 10 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges.
• 18 cool on the pan on a wire rack.
• 19 may be store at room temperature, well-wrapped, for up to 5 days.