First: Buttercream is gross and (AND) not delicious; I am glad someone else said it too.
Second: Anise is the primary flavor of biscochito, a cookie so beloved in New Mexico that is was elevated to "state cookie" status. The cookies themselves are crumbly-shortbready-forgetable texture, but the anise elevates them to something delicious and crave-able.
I'm very late to this post, but I totally agree with you about biscochito. My best friend's grandma would make them every year for Christmas, and even after I moved away, my best friend would save me a box of these. I don't share them with anyone.
i do like eating a lovely one but i abandoned making italian buttercream for bavarian, chantilly, caramel, 7 minute, and well balanced american buttercream variations. too cold or too room temp are both so bad for buttercream in desserts and that is hard to avoid plated in a restaurant setting.
omg i could eat sweets w anise every day i have to hold myself back from overusing them!
I am kept up at night by the thought of folks eating my cakes fridge-cold - I try and make sure folks know to bring them up to room temperature but you never know!
God bless these hot takes! 👏 a touch of novelty is intriguing, but there are certain bakers who will not be named where… I mean, the components sound like poetry, but also… slapped together? Like, is it actually delicious?? I come from a cheesemaking background, and we often talk about cheese being “snackable” or 2-3 bites of “interesting”, “complex”. There’s room for both on the cheeseboard, no hierarchy here, I’m tired of snackable cheeses being seen as ~ less artistic or less valuable, lower status.
I love this framing as "snackable"! And totally agree - for instance, I'm not super interested in making classic berry chantilly cakes, but it's absurd to argue that they're not totally delicious, even if their a simple/classic flavor
I put fennel seeds in some cookies last night for a dessert table and many people told me it was their unexpected fav thing! Of course it’s trickier when it’s a deciding factor on which cake to order. Forever on the fennel crusade. Also re:olive oil, emily sundberg did a piece for grubstreet on all the Instagram food brands and used the word “smallwashing”. I have not been able to stop thinking about it.
I just looked up that article - it was amazing! And there are some brands they mention that I genuinely love, but its such an interesting perspective to think about the branding of "smallness" bleeds into our notions of authenticity, and thus trustworthiness.
Yes I love some of those brands as well! I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing. Just an interesting way to think about consumer habits in the age of the internet.
"There’s only so many posts of cakes with pretty flowers that people actually have an appetite for."
Hmmm, not me. I never seen to get tired of looking at cakes!
Thanks for another very thoughtful read. I feel like diet culture, fat phobia and influencers demonizing certain foods can lead to a lot of hesitation and bargaining in the ongoing internal dialogue in my head about what and how much to eat.
I get so sad sometimes thinking about how much time I've wasted agonizing over what I'm going to put into my body to feed it (and then have to remember to give myself grace because this toxic messaging is truly everywhere).
“Empty calories” is something that I think about a lot, and how demonizing any ingredient or diet is classist. Thank you for summing it up so eloquently. Anise Hyssop + Fennel forever (the devil on my shoulder always thinks I should sprinkle some in and not tell a soul because I know they’ll love it).
And truly, I have so much credit to give to the podcast Maintenance Phase, and specifically Aubrey Gordon's work, for helping to unlock all the weird gross feelings I had about "clean" eating culture and putting voice to why it gives me the ick so much.
Right after I read your newsletter, I saw a story from my ~former~ judo coach connecting seed oil to various digestive problems. He's turned into a conspiracy-peddling, transphobic weirdo, and unfortunately I think that our Bay Area hippie wellness scenes (plus martial sports conspiracy guys) were the gateway drug.
I inadvertently used anise in a fig galette recently and the galette was delicious. I included crushed biscotti underneath the figs, so that the juice would not run out of the galette. I would never have used the biscotti, if I had known it included anise. When my spouse said she didn't want to eat the galette because the biscotti I used had anise, I realized what I had done.
BTW, I never get tired of looking at your cakes on Instagram. :)
I love anise/fennel flavoring in sweets! I worked for a small Italian bakery that made these lovey anise cookies… they were my absolute favorite. I was inspired and started playing around with the flavors myself and was working on an anise marshmallow that I never did finish… 🤔
First: Buttercream is gross and (AND) not delicious; I am glad someone else said it too.
Second: Anise is the primary flavor of biscochito, a cookie so beloved in New Mexico that is was elevated to "state cookie" status. The cookies themselves are crumbly-shortbready-forgetable texture, but the anise elevates them to something delicious and crave-able.
I must try these!
I'm very late to this post, but I totally agree with you about biscochito. My best friend's grandma would make them every year for Christmas, and even after I moved away, my best friend would save me a box of these. I don't share them with anyone.
Please put the fennel seeds on stuff and then tell us about it. Anise pizzelles forever!
My favorite! Random add here but Sorcellerie Apothecary makes a anise pizzelle perfume thats delightful if you're into that!
New I can use! I'm so curious to smell it
i do like eating a lovely one but i abandoned making italian buttercream for bavarian, chantilly, caramel, 7 minute, and well balanced american buttercream variations. too cold or too room temp are both so bad for buttercream in desserts and that is hard to avoid plated in a restaurant setting.
omg i could eat sweets w anise every day i have to hold myself back from overusing them!
cookies, crusts, crumbs oh my!
I am kept up at night by the thought of folks eating my cakes fridge-cold - I try and make sure folks know to bring them up to room temperature but you never know!
God bless these hot takes! 👏 a touch of novelty is intriguing, but there are certain bakers who will not be named where… I mean, the components sound like poetry, but also… slapped together? Like, is it actually delicious?? I come from a cheesemaking background, and we often talk about cheese being “snackable” or 2-3 bites of “interesting”, “complex”. There’s room for both on the cheeseboard, no hierarchy here, I’m tired of snackable cheeses being seen as ~ less artistic or less valuable, lower status.
I love this framing as "snackable"! And totally agree - for instance, I'm not super interested in making classic berry chantilly cakes, but it's absurd to argue that they're not totally delicious, even if their a simple/classic flavor
Great takes! The seed oil thing has really gotten out of hand, omg.
It honestly worries me that folks' critical reasoning has entirely wasted away when I see some of the health claims being made about them!
I love anise flavors. My favorite Christmas cookie is a molasses cut-out with anise buttercream. Sooo good!
I put fennel seeds in some cookies last night for a dessert table and many people told me it was their unexpected fav thing! Of course it’s trickier when it’s a deciding factor on which cake to order. Forever on the fennel crusade. Also re:olive oil, emily sundberg did a piece for grubstreet on all the Instagram food brands and used the word “smallwashing”. I have not been able to stop thinking about it.
I just looked up that article - it was amazing! And there are some brands they mention that I genuinely love, but its such an interesting perspective to think about the branding of "smallness" bleeds into our notions of authenticity, and thus trustworthiness.
For anyone else who wants to read, find it here: https://www.grubstreet.com/2023/01/why-every-shoppy-shop-looks-exactly-the-same.html
Yes I love some of those brands as well! I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing. Just an interesting way to think about consumer habits in the age of the internet.
"There’s only so many posts of cakes with pretty flowers that people actually have an appetite for."
Hmmm, not me. I never seen to get tired of looking at cakes!
Thanks for another very thoughtful read. I feel like diet culture, fat phobia and influencers demonizing certain foods can lead to a lot of hesitation and bargaining in the ongoing internal dialogue in my head about what and how much to eat.
I get so sad sometimes thinking about how much time I've wasted agonizing over what I'm going to put into my body to feed it (and then have to remember to give myself grace because this toxic messaging is truly everywhere).
“Empty calories” is something that I think about a lot, and how demonizing any ingredient or diet is classist. Thank you for summing it up so eloquently. Anise Hyssop + Fennel forever (the devil on my shoulder always thinks I should sprinkle some in and not tell a soul because I know they’ll love it).
the devil on our shoulders is right!!
And truly, I have so much credit to give to the podcast Maintenance Phase, and specifically Aubrey Gordon's work, for helping to unlock all the weird gross feelings I had about "clean" eating culture and putting voice to why it gives me the ick so much.
Thanks for the Maintenance Phase recommendation!
Right after I read your newsletter, I saw a story from my ~former~ judo coach connecting seed oil to various digestive problems. He's turned into a conspiracy-peddling, transphobic weirdo, and unfortunately I think that our Bay Area hippie wellness scenes (plus martial sports conspiracy guys) were the gateway drug.
Love the bay area but it's truly produced so many pseudoscience trends
I inadvertently used anise in a fig galette recently and the galette was delicious. I included crushed biscotti underneath the figs, so that the juice would not run out of the galette. I would never have used the biscotti, if I had known it included anise. When my spouse said she didn't want to eat the galette because the biscotti I used had anise, I realized what I had done.
BTW, I never get tired of looking at your cakes on Instagram. :)
That truly sounds so, so good to me - the pairing with fig especially!
And thank you - that may have been projecting on my part because honestly I get tired of seeing my own cakes on instagram...
I love anise/fennel flavoring in sweets! I worked for a small Italian bakery that made these lovey anise cookies… they were my absolute favorite. I was inspired and started playing around with the flavors myself and was working on an anise marshmallow that I never did finish… 🤔
An anise marshmallow in a cup of hot chocolate sounds top tier to me!
Love always to the Italians, who never shy away from anise.