Originally Posted by LavenderBlue

Another question if I may.....where does one purchase oil of anise? Also, would there be a good substitution? I greatly dislike licorice and have heard anise resembles its taste. Thank you!

Originally Posted by tuckyquilter

I LOVE these, but mine are smaller and very hard. They melt on the tongue. All the Mennonite women in my area made them and they were smaller than dimes. One place that still has them is the Mennonite Museum in Gossell, KS and they are the size of Pencil Erasers. I make mine more to the dime size.

I use my Great Grandmothers Recipe she brought from Russia when they arrived in the late 1800's. They're Mennonite that originated in Holland and called themselves Holland-Dutch. Molasses is in place of your honey, and no syrup or milk. It was the one cookie my son would eat. He's not enthused with sweets of any kind. We had pie or cheesecake for his birthdays. I haven't made them this year (2017) as they are labor intensive, and I'm just not up to it.

Do you also have the New Years Cake recipe? I can remember waking up at grandma's and the place smelled like a brewery from the yeast bubbling over night. Then she'd mix in some plumped raisins and fry those suckers. Oh How I loved Christmas time as a kid.

Originally Posted by meanmom

My grandma always made Pfeffernusse cookies. I never like them as I don't like anise. I have never tried, but they sound like they would be good if you just omitted the anise.