Anise is an aromatic herb with which you can make soups, beverages, dressings, cakes, cookies, jellies, etc. They have a sweet aroma and smooth, it can be combined with vegetables and some fruits, as well as with meat. Its tender leaves can be added to salads to give them a special touch and help prevent gas or indigestion at lunch. Here are some delicious recipes that you cannot lose.

Anise rolls

Ingredients:

• One cup of brown sugar
• One cup of extra virgin olive oil
• One cup of dried anise (or make a kind of anise liqueur with ½ star anise, bring to the boil in a cup of water for 10 minutes)
• Two teaspoons of baking powder
• Whole meal, enough, about 2 ½ cups must be consistent in order to form rolls.

Preparation:

1. Mix well anise, oil and sugar until sugar is completely dissolved. Add the yeast or soda to the flour. Knead all together to achieve the desired texture. Form rolls and put sugar over them, pass to baking tray.
2. The temperature should be about 150 degrees and should not brown much. They tend to be of a size between three and five inches maximum. But this already goes on taste.

Soup of beans, pumpkin and anis

Ingredients:

• 200 g of chickpeas
• 4 cloves
• 2 onions
• 2 tablespoons of star anise
• 6 sprigs of parsley
• 1 stalk of celery
• 1 bay leaf
• 500 g of pumpkin, peeled, seeded, to dice
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• 0.5 tsp of white pepper powder
• 1.5 liters of milk
• 150 g of butter

Preparation:

1. Soak the chickpeas for 24 hours before making the soup. Wash with tap water and then put them in a pan with cold water covering them, take them to a boil and let boil 45 minutes or until tender. Wait until cool enough to handle.
2. Now strain them and remove the skin. Reserve. Put a couple of cloves into each onion. Put the star anise in a cheesecloth or muslin bag. Make a bouquet with the parsley, celery and bay leaf.
3. Put in a casserole dish: diced pumpkin, pepper and salt, and add the bouquet, pour the milk and star anise. Bring to the boil and then lower heat to cook slowly for 1 hour or until pumpkin is tender. Separate onion, star anise and the bouquet. Make sure the nails remain pinched in onions.
4. While still hot, mix pumpkin until well homogenized milk. Place on a clean pan, add the butter cut into chunks and stir until it has melted. Heat the beans in boiling water, strain and add to soup before serving.

Anise Donuts

Ingredients:

• 1 kilo of wheat flour
• 250 gr of brown sugar
• 500 ml of olive oil
• 250 ml of dry anise
• 1 tablespoon of aniseed
• Powdered sugar

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 175 º c
2. Mix flour and sugar in a bowl where you can knead. Heat the oil until it begins to smoke and pour over the flour to scald.
3. Add the dry anise and a tablespoon of aniseed and knead until the dough is very smooth.
4. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin, cut the donuts and put them on a baking sheet.
5. Put in the oven at 175 º c until golden look.
6. Sprinkle with sugar while still hot fresh from the oven. We can put a bit of ground cinnamon.

Anise Coffee

Ingredients:

• A cup of strong coffee
• A measure of anise
• A lump of sugar
• Cinnamon for sprinkling

Procedure:

1. To make this particular anise coffee, you must first prepare a good strong espresso. Then you only have to add the measure of anise. You will see that the alcohol gives it a very personal and particular hue.
2. Mix them and pour the preparation into a tall glass, like Irish coffee. Then add the sugar cubes and sprinkle the tops with a little cinnamon. It is ideal to accompany desserts and share with people

Figs and anise Jelly

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of sugar
• 28 g of gelatin (4 envelopes) hydrated
• 1 cup of sweet anise
• Leaves of mint, washed and disinfected.
• Some figs

Preparation:

1. Boil 2 ½ cups of water with sugar. Add the hydrated gelatin and let everything simmer until the mixture is completely transparent. Cool slightly and add the anise. Reserve at room temperature but make sure that it is always liquid.
2. Wash and disinfect the figs, dry them and cut by halves or quarters, set aside. Choose the best eight leaves of mint.
3. In individual pans, spray with cooking spray, pour a finger of the gelatin mixture, cool and remove before they set. Accommodate one or two figs to the center of each mold, whereas when desmoids that will be the view of your jelly. Decorate each fig with a sprig of mint.
4. Add more gelatin to cover the entire surface of the figs. Refrigerate and let almost curdle again, and meanwhile, keep the remaining gelatin at room temperature.
5. Remove the gelatin from the refrigerator and add another layer, consider decorating the sides of pan. Refrigerate and return to wait for it thickens, but not completely. Repeat the procedure until you have as many layers as needed to fill the molds.
6. Refrigerate and remove mold before serving.