Fresh-ground rice flour and a nice blast of five-star anise make a genuine treat in these buttery, colorful cookies. A hand or motor driven burr grinder, set to its finest number, turns black Thai sticky rice into an aromatic, fluffy, lavender-colored powder. The rest is quick and easy, and thoroughly traditional.
Yield: About a dozen, quarter-ounce cookies
Time to make: 40 minutes active, 15 minutes oven dwell.
Tools needed: Grain grinder or motorized spice grinder. Medium bowl. 2 small bowls. Measuring cups and spoons or kitchen scale. Hand-held mixer. Small silicone spatula. Quarter-size sheet pan. Bakers parchment.
Ingredients
Procedure:
1) Place an oven rack in the center position. Heat oven to 325 F. Line the sheet pan with bakers parchment.
2) Place rice and star anise, broken into small pieces, into the grinder. Making multiple passes or grinding for an extended time, reduce rice to finest possible flour.
3) Place butter in a medium bowl. Cream on medium mixer speed until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the sugar and cream again, beating until light and smooth. Add the vanilla and beat well to integrate.
4) Put flour and ground anise into a small bowl. Add the salt and xanthan gum and stir well to mix. Add this flour blend to the creamed butter and mix on low speed until a soft dough forms. Scrape dough into a cohesive mass.
5) Using your fingers, pull off tablespoon-size dough pieces and roll between your hands to form balls. Place these on the prepared sheet pan allowing 2 inches on each side. Using a plastic cup or glass, gently press each ball into a disc about 1/2 inch thick. Place and press 6 to 8 pignoli nuts into each.
6) Bake 15 minutes, or until the nuts are just edged with brown. Remove to a cooling rack and allow cookies to set and cool before removing from parchment.