G is for Genetti

If you're from the Sault you know what genetti are.  If you're not, you need to make these cookies.

Let's start with a picture. Here's a recent batch Aunty Anna made for the lucky folks in Saskatchewan.  The Easter colours aren't traditional; usually the icing would be white.  But for Easter, these are pretty:

Here's Cousin Sam's recipe for our grandmother's Genetti.

6 eggs (Ma says to use XL but I only use large)

1 cup of vegetable oil

4 cups flour

5 tsp. baking powder

1-2 tsp anise (I always use 1 1/2 tsp.)

1 cup sugar

Mix all ingredients by hand. Once mixed, to make the genetti shape, take a small amount of the mixture and form into a log shape and then twist, place on cookie sheet. 

Bake 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees, but check the bottoms on them after 8-9 minutes.  Once the bottoms are a nice golden brown, take them out immediately. Cool on wire rack.

Icing -- icing sugar and water.  I always fill up a cereal bowl with icing sugar and add a little bit of water and mix well with a spoon until smooth. Make sure it is nice and white looking and not watery or it won't look or taste good.

I always put a piece of waxed paper on my counter and put the genettis on a wire cooling rack and ice them and let the drip go onto the waxed paper.

I know my grandmother would be happy to share the recipe and may your home smell of genetti.

Sam tells me her genetti taste just as good as Ma's -- so good her dad couldn't tell them apart back when Ma was still making them.

I've only made them once.  I'll tell you, it takes some practice to roll them as evenly as Aunty Anna does.  My Mom frequently makes genetti, but with her arthritis she just can't roll them into the traditional genetti shape. Mom adds a bit of vanilla to the cookie base and some anise to the icing.  She makes them as a drop cookies and they taste just as good.

Who else makes genetti?  Secrets to rolling them?  Fresh batch?  Please share!