Anginette Cookies

From Pia’s Kitchen in Trumbull, Connecticut 

Cookies:

2 sticks of butter or margarine (you may also use 2 sticks of sweet butter instead) *

1 cup of sugar

4 eggs

1 cup of orange juice

5 cups of flour, sifted

4 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt (if sweet butter is substituted) *

Parchment paper

Frosting:

2 cups of confectioners’ sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon of anisette

Mix butter, sugar, and eggs by hand with a whisk. Add remaining cookie ingredients and continue to mix until batter is smooth.

Scoop batter by the rounded teaspoonful onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 10 minutes in a preheated 350 degrees oven.

Place the cookies on a rack to cool.

Mix the confectioner’s sugar with the anisette until smooth with no sugar lumps. You can add a drop or two of food coloring to the frosting and continue to stir until uniform in color.

Frost the top of each cookie.

The most traditional colors that were used by Mama and her friends were red and green for Christmas, orange or yellow for Thanksgiving, and pastel colors for baby or bridal showers. At Easter Mama frosted the Anginette Cookies with pink and yellow and placed a huge Perugina Egg, wrapped in lavender or pink foil, next to the cookie platter.

Wrap the tray with colored cellophane. Use red, green, yellow, pink or blue, depending on the time of year, and tie it with a ribbon. Your platter will look very festive!

As a child, the best part was ripping the platter open. Ahhh, yes! The fights over the last piece of Perugina Egg brings back such memories!

It is always a welcomed act of kindness to give away small dishes of Anginette Cookies to family and friends. Just make sure you hide a few for yourself for later!