Sunday, December 7, 2008

Christmas Cookies: Italian Cookies


I saw these and they were so cute, I had to have them. I admit it -- I was swayed by good pictures!

But luckily, these little devils are delicious.

You'll get non-glazed pictures for now -- I always wait to glaze my cookies until closer to their serving date, so they stay fresh and delicious longer.

Italian Cookies
(Noble Pig by way of Bunny's Warm Oven)

Approximately 100 cookies (this is according to the Noble Pig page -- I only got 60 or so? I guess mine are bigger!)

For the cookies:
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup granulated sugar
4 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
5 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons lemon extract (okay to use anise or vanilla too!)

Directions for cookies:
- Sift flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. Set aside.
- In the microwave melt butter and shortening (make sure the shortening is fresh or it will taste bad) together in a bowl.
- Beat the melted butter and shortening together until it is completely incorporated, about 2 minutes.
- Add granulated sugar and mix well.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, about 1 minute each.
- Mix in lemon extract.
- Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture slowly, until fully incorporated. Don't overmix.
- If the cookie dough is too sticky to roll in the palm of your hand, add a bit of flour. However, the dough should remain very soft, so don't add too much.
- Roll the cookie dough in small balls (they puff up quite nicely) and place them on ungreased cookie sheets.
- Bake at 375 degrees F for 8-10 minutes (mine took 8 minutes). The bottoms of the cookies should be lightly browned but the tops of should remain light in color.
- Remove cookies from the cookie sheet immediately and move to a wire rack. Cool completely before glazing.

For the glaze:
3-4 Tablespoons milk
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon lemon extract (okay to use anise or vanilla)

Directions for the glaze:
- Slowly mix milk with powdered sugar and lemon extract.
- The glaze needs to be thick to adhere to the cookie.
- Dip the top of each cookie into the glaze.
- Sprinkle each cookie with nonpareils and leave them to completely dry.

2 comments:

Cass. Just Curious said...

I made these too with Anise Oil and they were delish and I only got 65 so my cookies are more in line with your cookies!

I didn't even consider Lemon extract but I'm going to make another batch so maybe I'll go half Lemon half vanilla.

I was thinking about making them cutouts but the dough didn't cooperate - do you think just adding more flour would do it?

What's Cookin Chicago said...

Looks great and I love that it makes quite a bit... perfect for any holiday cookie swap!