When the winter months roll around, I find myself baking up plenty of dessert recipes including eggnog cake, thumbprint cookies, Oreo stuffed cookies, peppermint patties, peanut brittle and these delightful little Italian cookies.
Italian Cookies Ingredients
To make Italian cookies make sure you have butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, almond extract, flour, baking powder and sprinkles. For the frosting you will need powdered sugar, vanilla extract, almond extract and cream. Feel free to switch up the sprinkle colors to decorate them for Christmas or any other occasion. You can serve them with some of my favorite holiday treats like reindeer chow, buckeye balls, peppermint bark and pizzelles.
How Do You Make Italian Cookies?
To make Italian cookies first make the dough by beating together butter and sugar with a stand mixer or electric mixer. Add eggs, vanilla extract and almond extract and mix it all together. Next add the flour and baking powder, and mix until it is just combined. With the dough complete, scoop it out and roll it into balls with your hands. Let the balls chill in the freezer to prevent them from spreading too much during baking. The dough goes into the oven for a few minutes until the edges are lightly browned. Let the cookies cool on a wire rack. When the cookies are cool, they are ready for frosting. Make an easy frosting by whisking together powdered sugar, cream, vanilla extract and almond extract in a medium bowl. Dip the cookies in this frosting and add a few sprinkles. When the frosting dries the cookies are ready to eat!
Tips For The Perfect Italian Cookies
When scooping the dough, use a cookie dough scoop or measuring spoon to make sure cookies are all the same size. When you shape your dough into balls, make sure your hands are a little damp, but not wet. Let the glaze harden for about an hour before serving the Italian cookies.
Flavor Variations
While these Italian cookies are delicious as-is, you can change up the flavor to suit your taste.
Flavorings: You can use your favorite flavor extracts such as anise or lemon instead of almond extract. Try adding some almond paste, cinnamon, orange zest or even a little honey for extra flavor. Chocolate Chips: Feel free to add some mini chocolate chips to the cookie dough. Coloring: You can add a little food coloring to the frosting for a fun twist on the classic recipe. Nuts: Finely chop nuts like pistachios, pine nuts, walnuts or almonds and mix them in the dough.
These cute little treats are always a hit with kids and adults alike. I make these every year for Christmas with red and green sprinkles and everyone always asks me for the recipe!
