Who says anise cookies are only for Christmas?

Regular readers may have noticed that among the newsroom taste testers we have some notoriously picky eaters.

One in particular, executive editor Joe Soprano, would routinely refuse to sample anything I made in the Times Leader test kitchen — with one notable exception.

He always liked the anise cookies I make at Christmas time; they reminded him of treats his grandmother used to bake.

Sometimes, because I usually just sprinkle red and green sugar on top of the cookies, he’d say something like, “What, no icing?”

So recently, when I discovered a tiny unopened bottle of anise oil in my kitchen cupboard, I decided not to wait for Christmas. Why not make some cookies cut-out in Halloween shapes? And I’d add the anise oil. And, because I wanted to give Joe a special treat, of course I would make icing.

Regular readers may know our valiant editor is battling esophageal cancer and has been absent from the newsroom for a while. But I did manage to get a container of cookies to him.

Then, a few days later, as more than 150 walkers and runners gathered at Kirby Park on Sunday morning for Joe’s early Bird 5K and 1-mile Walk, I asked the fundraiser’s guest of honor if he’d had a chance to sample the Halloween cookies.

Not yet, Joe said. He’s planning to wait until he finishes his cancer treatments, which can play games with a person’s taste buds.

Fair enough.

Moments later, I ran into sportswriter Kevin Carroll, one of many TL staffers and alumni who took part in the run/walk, along with Joe’s family and friends from the local running community.

“Kevin, have you been in the office?” I asked, remembering I had left two cookies on his desk.

“Yeah, I found the cookies,” he said. “They were good. It was a nice little boost.”

A boost. Yes, that’s what I’d like to give everyone. That’s what we’d all like to give Joe.

Musing about that, I took part in the 5K-run. Not that I’m fast, by any stretch of the imagination. But I did take part.

And as I ran/jogged/moved forward, I remembered another 5K — I think it was a Pittston Tomato Festival Run a few years ago — where I surprised myself by actually passing Joe. Then he passed me, and then I passed him again, but he passed me one more time. And he crossed the finish line on Main Street, Pittston, before I did.

Looking back, I’m glad he won our little contest.

And now I’m just one of many, many people hoping and praying that he’ll win this much bigger battle.

In other action, because readers have let me know they enjoy hearing what my taste testers have to say, here are comments from people who sampled cookies from the same big Halloween batch:

News editor Liz Baumeister said they had “a good texture.” Columnist Bill O’Boyle said “they’re not overly sweet and not overly spicy; a good cookie.” My friend Mary praised the softness of the cookies I gave her when we met for lunch; my friend Chris, sitting across the table, said they smelled good but she doesn’t like anise at all. Fortunately, her husband does like anise and she would take some cookies to him.

And speaking of people who like anise, Mark, my mother and I all prefer the cookies without icing — and I left some cookies undecorated so there would be no frosting to camouflage the anise flavor.

Here’s the recipe:

Anise Cut-Out Cookies

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

8 ounces sour cream

up to 5 cups of flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon anise oil

Cream together butter, and sugar. Mix in lightly beaten eggs, sour cream, and all the other ingredients, including about 3 cups of flour, to start. Gradually add more flour, up to 2 additional cups, until dough is no longer sticky. The less flour you use, the softer the cookies will be, and the more flour you use, the less sticky the dough will be.

Refrigerate the dough overnight for ease of handling.

When it’s time to roll out the dough, use a floured pastry cloth and floured rolling pin to roll the dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters that have been dipped in flour. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 to 15 minutes on greased cookie sheets.