Italian Cookies

For the cookies:

Melt butter and shortening together. Add the sugar; mix well. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the anise extract.

Sift or whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to creamed mixture gradually. If the dough is too sticky to roll in the palm of your hand, add flour until firmer, but the dough should still be very soft.

Roll dough in small balls (these tend to REALLY puff up with all the baking powder in them!) and place on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes (the bottom should be lightly browned but the tops should remain light). Remove cookies to wire rack and cool completely before glazing.

For the glaze:

Mix milk gradually into confectioner’s sugar to make a thick glaze… make sure to keep it on the thick side.

Dip top of each cookie into glaze. Sprinkle with colored jimmies or nonpareils while glaze is still wet. (I usually dip 10-12 cookies, return them to the wire rack (with wax paper under the racks to aid in clean up!) and then sprinkle those cookies before starting to dip more.)

Makes a lot of cookies, depending on how large you roll them. I usually roll the dough into 1/2- 3/4-inch balls. I get about 100 cookies from one batch when I roll them this size.