Rock Your Palate

Recipe serves 8 1 cup walnuts 1 cup cake flour 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1 Tbsp brewed coffee 1/2 tsp cardamon 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened 3/4 cup sugar 3 large eggs 1 1/2 Tbsp vegetable oil 1 tsp salt Syrup 1 cup water 2/3 cup sugar 2 tbsp pure maple syrup 1 [...]

Star Anise is the fruit from a small oriental tree and a member of the Magnolia family. The star shaped flower has between five to ten pointed oval shaped pods containing seeds. They are rust colored and picked before ripen and dried.
The bouquet is licorice-like but more powerful and stronger than anise. It is one of the spices found in the popular spice ‘Chinese Five Spices’ leaving the others to be clove, fennel seed, cinnamon and szechuan peppercorns.
In traditional Chinese medicine, Star Anise is prescribed as a digestive aid and to help cure colic in babies.