These pretty Italian Cookies are flavored with either almond or anise, dipped in sweet icing and decorated with rainbow sprinkles.
They’re perfect for your Christmas baking list or dress them with a variety of decorations to suit any occasion! More classic holiday cookies that are great for gift giving include my Jam Thumbprint Cookies, Pecan Sandies, and Chewy Iced Molasses Cookies.
I first saw these lovely little Italian Cookies on a cooking segment on The Today Show with Dylan Dreyer and her cute as a button son, Cal. Just like so many families, these cookies are a Christmas tradition for them. And, once you make them, they will likely become a regular on your holiday baking list too!
I made a few small changes to Dylan’s family recipe, mostly to the sweet powdered sugar icing, and we all absolutely fell in love.
They’re soft, not overly sweet, and you can flavor them with either almond or anise extract. The sweet icing and pretty sprinkles make them a standout choice for Christmas cookie trays.
These cookies are also known as Italian Christmas Cookies, Italian Wedding Cookies, or Italian Butter Cookies. Whatever you call them, they are absolutely delicious!
Table of contents
Ingredients and Variations
- Large eggs and granulated sugar
- Vegetable shortening: Melted and cooled. I don’t often use shortening in recipes, but I always have Crisco Shortening Sticks on hand for my Food Processor Pie Crust recipe. Shortening is responsible for the wonderful texture of these cookies so I don’t recommend swapping it out for butter.
- Extract: Traditional Italian Cookies are made with pure anise extract which has a sweet liquorice flavor. Substitute pure almond extract if you aren’t a fan of liquorice. We love them with both but almond extract is the more kid-friendly choice.
- Dry ingredients: All-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt.
- For the icing: Powdered sugar and additional extract – either almond, anise, or vanilla. You’ll also need a little milk.
- Sprinkles: I love these with rainbow nonpareils which are the tiny balls made of sugar you see pictured in this post. You can also use holiday sprinkles to dress them up for Christmas or Easter.
How to Make Italian Cookies
- Place the melted and cooled shortening in a large mixing bowl and add the sugar and extract. Use an electric mixer to combine it well.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating in between each addition.
- Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, gradually add it to the wet mixture.
- Beat the mixture to form a soft dough.
- Using a small cookie scoop, shape the dough into neat 1 to 1 ½ tablespoon balls and place them about 1-inch apart on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. The tops will crack but stay light colored and the bottoms should be lightly golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool before icing and decorating.
- For the icing, add the powdered sugar, extract of choice, and just enough milk to reach a consistency that is thin enough to easily pour off the tip of a spoon.
- Dip the completely cooled cookies top down into the icing, shaking off the excess. Sprinkle the nonpareils over the wet icing, then let the cookies rest at room temperature to allow the icing to set up.
Tips for the Best Italian Cookies
Spoon and level the flour: If you scoop the flour out of the container with your measuring cup, you’ll likely pack it down and end up with more than is required. Instead, use a spoon to place the flour in the measuring cup until it is slightly over-filled. Then, you use the back of a knife to level it off across the top of the cup, allowing the excess flour to fall back into the container.
Adding extract: As written, these are lightly almond or anise flavored cookies that are boosted with a little more extract in the icing. We think they are perfect, as written but for more intense flavor you can add an additional ½ teaspoon of extract to the cookie dough.
Chilling the dough: During recipe testing, the cookies I baked without chilling the dough were just as round and pretty as the chilled dough batch. In fact, I think they may have even held their shape a bit better. Covering and refrigerating the soft dough for about an hour will make it a bit easier to handle, but it’s not at all required for a good result. Cookies made from chilled dough will take 2 to 3 minutes longer to bake.
Use a cookie scoop: The best way to ensure even baking is to use a small cookie scoop for uniform sized cookies.
Don’t overbake: Watch the cookies closely starting at the 8 minute mark and pull them out when the bottoms are just lightly golden brown. The tops of the cookies should be very light in color.
Cool before icing: Be sure to allow the cookies to cool completely before preparing the icing. If you dip them while they are still warm, the warmth will thin the icing and it will just run off the cookies.
Storage Tips
- Room temperature: Italian Cookies store well in an airtight container at room temperature for 4 to 5 days.
- Freezing dough: Scoop and form the dough as directed in the recipe and transfer the baking sheet to the freezer for about an hour, or until the balls of dough are frozen solid. Then, transfer them to a freezer-safe plastic storage bag and freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw frozen dough completely in the refrigerator before baking.
- Freezing baked cookies: Transfer the baked cookies without icing to an airtight freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw completely at room temperature and follow the recipe directions to ice and decorate.
More Easy Cookie Recipes
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Italian Cookies
Ingredients
For the Cookies
- ½ cup vegetable shortening, melted and cooled
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon almond extract or anise extract, or to taste (*see note below)
- 3 large eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- Pinch of salt
For the Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract or anise extract
- 2 to 3 tablespoons milk, as needed
- nonpareils or sprinkles, for decorating
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the melted and cooled shortening in a large mixing bowl and add the sugar and extract of choice. Use an electric mixer to combine it well. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating in between each addition.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet mixture, beating to form a soft dough.
- Using a small cookie scoop, shape the dough into neat 1 to 1 ½ tablespoon balls and place them about 1-inch apart on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes (check after 8 minutes – tops will crack but stay light colored, bottoms should be golden). Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Cool before icing and decorating.
- For the icing, add the powdered sugar, extract, and 2 tablespoons milk to a small bowl and stir until combined. Stir in additional milk, ¼ teaspoon at a time, until icing reaches the desired consistency. It should be thin enough to easily pour off the spoon, but not watery.
- Once cooled, dip the cookies, top down into the icing. Shake off the excess and place the cookies down on the wire rack. Sprinkle with nonpareils or sprinkles and let them rest at room temperature to allow the icing to set up.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated using generic ingredients, and is an estimate not a guarantee. For more accurate results, please refer to the labels on your ingredients at home.
Adapted from The Today Show
Would it be possible to use vegetable oil instead of melted shortening?
Hi there! I haven’t tested these with vegetable oil, and I wouldn’t recommend swapping it for the melted shortening. Shortening has a different fat structure and melting point, and it’s what gives these cookies their signature tender texture.Vegetable oil is completely liquid at room temperature, so the dough won’t hold together the same way and the cookies will bake up flatter and less tender. For the best results, I’d stick with the shortening in this recipe.
Good recipe made 36 cookies with a 1 tbsp cooky scoop Look just like the picture They are soft and cake like with faint taste of anise extract I used 1 1/2 tsp anise extract