SICILIAN SESAME & ANISE COOKIES ("SCIMINO")

SINCE everyone is apparently baking their heads off during the quarantine, I thought I'd put my two cents in with an easy and very delicious solution to cookies and milk (or coffee) to last you at least a day or two, depending on how populated your house is. 

I usually make these cookies for Christmas. However, baking them for special occasions is always a welcome treat. In this case it was a Leap Year birthday party for a true Leap Year baby right before all the pandemix [sic!] began.

These cookies aren't fancy like some of the other Sicilian confections I bake. They are simple and unassuming batons of cookie dough, actually, covered in toasted sesame seeds and flavored with anise. They are sturdy and dense, but make no mistake, they are totally delicious. Eaten alone or  dipped into a cup of espresso or cappuccino, they hit the spot.

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

4 cups sifted flour
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup butter
2 eggs slightly beaten
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1 Tbsp. anise extract

1/2 cup milk
1 Tbsp. anise Seed, ground semi-fine

3 cups toasted sesame seeds for coating (more if necessary)

Bring milk to the simmer (170º), take off heat, add anise seed and anise extract, cover and allow to steep for 30 minutes, cool and refrigerate overnight. 

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until little dots of butter appear (like a pie crust), add beaten egg, vanilla, gently stir in milk. Mix well until a mass of dough forms; I find doing it with your hands is easiest. You could use a mixer with a dough hook or a food processor but the butter reacts differently and isn't as good.

Shape cookies into round balls and stretch into elliptical forms (batons). Dip the cookies, one at a time, in a bowl of cold water and roll in the sesame seeds. You may have to wash your hands periodically to scrape off any wet dough that sticks to your palm. Place on greased cookie sheets about 3/4 inches apart. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. All ovens being different, it may take longer to bake and it also depends on how crisp or crunchy you want your cookie to be. I look for a serious browning on the edges of the cookies and, of course, the intense aroma of licorice perfuming the air. 

Let cool completely on a cooling rack before serving. These cookies freeze very well but mine never last long enough for that. 

Makes several dozen.