This is a lovely anise-flavoured biscuit recipe, very simple to make but quite delicious with afternoon tea or coffee.
This is my Italian grandmother's recipe, to a T (except for the baking power typo, of course - 3 teaspoons works perfectly We call them "Sciamellis" in my family. The key with these cookies is that YOU SHOULD NOT BROWN THEM. If they turn golden on top, they're overdone. When you just start to see a teeny bit of golden color at the base of the cookies, get them out of the oven! Almond, anise, vanilla, lemon...all varieties taste great. - 22 Nov 2006 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)
These were delicious and authentic Italian cookies with a nice strong anisette flavor. I presume the recipe had a typo regarding the 6 Tbs. of baking powder and I reduced it to 1 heaping Tbs. They were the exact consistency they should be and I cannot imagine what an additional 5 Tbs would have created! - 23 Nov 2001 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)
Love this cookie. 11 minutes seems perfect for bake time. I've been using an old recipe for years and it somehow just changed over time and the cookies were just boring. This is great. Very nice texture, not too cakey not too dry. Wonderful understated flavor - just great... I made up a batch for this Easter sunday and made different colors for the icing. They look like a bunch of beautiful Easter eggs. DELICIOUS... Thanks for this recipe. Also makes several dozen if you don't make them too big. Nice... I changed the baking powder amount to 1 tablespoon. - 11 Apr 2006 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)