Italian Knot Cookies

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Take a look at these adorable Italian Knot Cookies! Aren't they so cute and colourful looking?! These cookies don't just look nice, they are also super delicious, and with getting 4 stars on the Cooking With Nonna website, they must be really good! These sweet little cookies are an old Italian classic cookie that has a touch of anise in them for an extra little hint of flavour. A nice addition to a classic sugar cookie that everyone loves. Anise is a great spice that we find in baking sometimes, and in Indian food, it is used quite a lot. The spice looks like a star before it is ground up, which is why it is also known as Star Anise. You can often find it in drinks, like chai tea, and it has a nice, liquorice flavour, with a little hint of sweetness. It is an acquired taste, but those who love it, can't get enough of it! Star anise comes from an evergreen type of tree that grows in Vietnam and China. Medicinally, it can be used to help with colds and flu viruses. It can also be burned as an incense.

The basic sugar cookie has been around for a very long time, and each place has their own variation of them, so now it is time to see with the Italian version is all about. These cookies are super easy to make, and are basically sugar cookies that are rolled out into a rope and then twisted around each other to create a little knot! Then, they are glazed with a nice thin and almost transparent sugar icing with a hint of anise in it, which gives these cookies a different flavour altogether, in comparison to most sugar cookies that North Americans are used to. These particular cookies are topped with the icing, and then they are sprinkled with some rainbow candy sprinkles to give them some nice colour, to add to the festiveness of them. The recipe says that they are made for Easter time but would be a great addition to any dessert or party table.

Italian knot cookies are an Easter staple for Italy and Italians and also for weddings, since the knot represents the couple 'tying the knot' or getting married. Getting married actually used to be tying the knot literally, if it happened to be a binding ceremony where the minister, or person marrying the couple, ties a rope around them to symbolize their binding and two lives intertwining. This would also make them great to serve for Valentines day, or for a bridal shower! What a great idea, and so lovely that there is a special cookie for these occasions. If you like sugar cookies and star anise, this could be a match made in heaven! I would love to try them out soon, I think they would make a great new take on the traditional sugar cookie! Try them out anytime just to see what they are like! Head on over to 'Cooking With Nonna' by following the link in the section below for more!

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