• 2 1/4 cups white or whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 Tbsp anise seed, toasted
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter (or 3/4 cup oil)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract or 1 Tbs anisette liqueur (Pernod)

• Preheat oven to 350°.
• Put parchment paper or foil on two cookie sheets. Butter/oil and flour them.
• Stir dry ingredients together.
• Cut in butter. (If using oil, beat it with eggs instead)
• Beat eggs and extract or liqueur together.
• Mix egg mixture into flour mixture and knead together until malleable.
• Make four 2 inch wide and ¾ inch high logs. Place on cookie sheets and flatten them with your hands.
• Bake 30 minutes at 350°.
• Cool. Cut diagonally with serrated knife into ½ inch slices.
• Bake a second time: 10 minutes on one side, then turn and bake another 10 minutes.
• Cool before serving.

Variations

• For traditional pareve mandelbrot,use oil (not butter) and subsitute 1 to 2 cups chopped almonds for the anise. Use vanilla, not anisette.
• Substitute for the anise seed/anisette:
  • orange peel,
  • chocolate chips,
  • sour cherries or
  • candied ginger.