RECIPE

Italian Holiday Cookies

Name: Italian Holiday Cookies
Cook time: 1 h
Yield: 4 dozen

Recipe Created For

Baking Sheet and Cooling Rack

Main Course

Flour

Cook Time

Under 1 hour

Serving Size

4 dozen

Cook Mode

INGREDIENTS

6 cups all purpose flour
6 heaping teaspoons baking powder
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup shortening or softened unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 1/2 cups whole milk

Icing

2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons almond extract
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Food coloring, optional
Sprinkles

As their name suggests, our Italian Holiday Cookies are a great recipe to get into the holiday spirit this year. The icing is ultimately what helps this recipe truly stand out, combining sugar, water, almond and vanilla extract, and sprinkles, of course. Be sure to add food coloring for the perfect presentation!

Our Insulated Cookie Sheet is the ideal piece of bakeware for this recipe, maintaining even heat to prevent scorching. This piece of bakeware has been carefully crafted with heavy-gauge carbon steel, delivering superior heat retention and even heat distribution ensuring your cookies are cooked completely through and evenly. The end result is Italian Holiday Cookies that are sure to impress your guests!

Our Italian Holiday Cookies can be prepared year round, especially if you have a sweet tooth in the family, but are particularly ideal for holiday hosting. This recipe takes just under an hour to prepare from start to finish, serving up about four dozen cookies at a time. Here are all the ingredients you’ll need along with the steps to follow before you get baking!

INGREDIENTS

6 cups all purpose flour
6 heaping teaspoons baking powder
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup shortening or softened unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 1/2 cups whole milk

Icing

2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons almond extract
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Food coloring, optional
Sprinkles

EQUIPMENT

INSTRUCTIONS

For the cookies:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl to combine. Set aside.

Place sugar and shortening in another large mixing bowl, and cream together until light and fluffy. Add the salt, eggs, vanilla extract, almond extract and milk and mix until combined. Add the flour mixture and stir again just to combine. Batter will be very sticky.

Roll dough into 1" balls and place on a sheet pan. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes until lightly golden brown. Allow cookies to cool before icing.

For the icing:

Whisk together powdered sugar, water, almond extract and vanilla extract in a small bowl until smooth. Add drops of food coloring to the icing if desired to tint.

Place a cooling rack inside of a sheet pan. Dip the cooled cookies into the icing and place on the cooling rack. Decorate with sprinkles and allow icing to set.

Recipe created for Le Creuset by: Dan Pelosi @grossypelosi