• Heat your oven to 375 degrees.
• Cream sugar and eggs together in a large bowl.
• Sift together flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
• Add bowl of dry ingredients, alternately with oil & extract, to the sugar mixture bowl.
• Shape the cookies and place them on a greased cookie sheet.
• Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly brown.
• When cool, sprinkle with confectioner's sugar ( optional ).

****To Shape Cookies:

Take a spoonful of the dough and roll it out into a snake shape on a clean surface, such as your counter or table.  You might want to add a sprinkle of flour to the table first before rolling, just in case the dough gets too soft and gets sticky.

Once the snake shape is made ( don't make it too thin either! ), grab the ends and bring them down to form an upside-down "U" shape.

Take one side and cross it over the other side.  The cross-over should be more in the middle, not at the ends.

Take the sides and twist one more time.  The end result should look like this:  a small loop at the top, 2 twists in the center and 2 small ends hanging down.

****If this all seems WAY too much work for some yummy cookies, just take a spoonful of the dough and roll it into a ball.  Flatten the ball slightly and just place on the greased cookie sheet!!  Trust me-- you may want to do it this way because stirring 5 cups of flour with the other ingredients hurts!!

*****If you don't have Anisette extract (  or you don't like Anisette flavor ):

Try vanilla!  I tried it and it tastes great this way too.  I haven't tried any other flavors, though, but get creative if you like!!

***** These cookies are somewhat dry.  They would go best with a tall glass of milk or a cup of hot tea.