Italian Holiday Cookies
Makes 4 dozen
You know this girl. She shows up to every party, invited or not. She's always wearing a different festive outfit and has an elusive and unique flavor profile that's sometimes hard to nail down. You hate her yet want to be her all at once. Truth be told, no holiday party would be the same without her there. She is the classic Italian cookie.
Your family may call her the "anginette cookie" or the "drop cookie" or, you know, the ITALIAN COOKIE cookie. You may flavor her with any combo of anise extract, lemon extract, almond extract, or vanilla extract, and then fight endlessly with every other Italian you know about the correct way it should be done.
But there is no fighting in the Grossy world. We are all FAMIGLIA here, and you can have it all! My Italian Holiday Cookie recipe works with any combo of extracts you like, though the Pelosi clan favors the almond and vanilla combo slightly above the rest. No matter what you do, once you invite her to your holiday party, you won't be able to have another without her!
WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
Cookies:
6 cups all-purpose flour**
6 heaping teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
¾ cup shortening or softened unsalted butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract*
2 teaspoons almond extract*
1 ½ cups whole milk
Frosting:
2 cups confectioners sugar
¼ cup water
2 teaspoons almond extract*
2 teaspoons vanilla extract*
food coloring
sprinkles
*Anise/vanilla and lemon/vanilla extract combos are also commonly used here. Use a higher quantity of the flavor you want to be more dominant.
**Gluten free All-Purpose 1:1 flour can be used.
WHAT YOU'LL DO:
Pre-heat oven to 350º.
Sift together 6 cups flour, 6 heaping teaspoons baking powder, and ¼ teaspoon salt. Set aside.
Cream together 2 cups sugar and ¾ cup shortening in a stand mixer. You can also use a bowl and a wooden spoon. Then add 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 2 teaspoons almond extract, and 1½ cups whole milk and mix to combine.
Still using your stand mixer, add dry ingredients into wet ingredients until combined. Batter will be very sticky.
Using a floured tablespoon, scoop balls of dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Roll dough into 1” balls and bake for 10 minutes. Let cool completely on a rack.
While cookies cool, let's make the frosting. Combine 2 cups confectioner’s sugar, ¼ cup water, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract and 2 teaspoons almond extract in a bowl with a whisk. Add a little more water or confectioner's sugar as needed to get the right consistency. Add food coloring (or colorings) to frosting to get the color you think will look best on her!
Place your cooling rack on a baking tray or piece of parchment. This will catch the excess frosting as it drips off your cookies while frosting them.
Dunk your cookies in frosting and sprinkle immediately with sprinkles, if you are using them.
Let frosting dry completely before eating, sharing, shipping or storing!
Enjoy!
For information on how to store your cookies, head to Grossy's Guide to Holiday Cookies.
Make it step-by-step with me below!
1. Sift together 6 cups flour, 6 heaping teaspoons baking powder and ¼ teaspoon salt. Set aside.
Also, pre-heat your oven to 350º.
2. Cream together 2 cups sugar and ¾ cup shortening in a stand mixer. You can also use a bowl and a wooden spoon.
3. There she is!
4. Add 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 2 teaspoons almond extract, and 1½ cups whole milk and mix to combine.
5. Add dry ingredients into wet ingredients.
6. Continue using your stand mixer to combine.
7. The batter will be very sticky.
8. Using a floured tablespoon, scoop balls of dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Roll dough into 1” balls and bake for 10 minutes.
9. Let cookies cool completely on a rack.
10. While cookies cool, let's make the frosting.
11. Combine 2 cups confectioner’s sugar, ¼ cup water, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, and 2 teaspoons almond extract in a bowl with a whisk.
12. Add food coloring or colorings to frosting as you wish.
Place your cooling rack on a baking tray or piece of parchment. This will catch the excess frosting as it drips off your cookies while frosting them.
13. Dunk your cookies in frosting and sprinkle immediately with sprinkles, if you are using them.
14. Let frosting dry completely before eating, sharing, shipping or storing!
15. Enjoy!