Melt butter in a small bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients of flour, baking powder, sugar, salt.

Mix in the lemon juice and rind, and almonds.

Add the melted butter, beaten eggs (one at a time), and anise to this mixture.

Blend all ingredients together well.

Divide the dough into 3 to 4 batches.

Roll each batch of dough into long strips/logs about 3 inches wide by 12 inches long.

Place the strips/logs on a greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees until lightly colored, about 20 - 25 minutes.

Cut diagonally into slices about 1" thick.

If desired, bake again with the slices placed on their sides, for another 5 - 10 minutes. (My family likes contucci prepared both ways, so we bake half a second time for the drier (dipping) version, and leave the other half baked only once for the more moist version).