Best Italian Sugar Cookies Recipes

TENDER ITALIAN SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°. In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. , Shape dough into 1-1/2-in. balls. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool., For icing, in a small bowl, combine milk, butter, vanilla and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Tint with food coloring if desired. Dip tops of cookies in icing; allow excess to drip off. Sprinkle with coarse sugar if desired. Place on waxed paper; let stand until set.

ITALIAN SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream shortening and sugar with electric mixer.
• Add eggs one at a time and beat well.
• Add buttermilk, flavor extracts, baking soda and cream of tarter and blend well.
• Now by hand with a wooden spoon, add flour 1 cup at a time until the mixture is stiff.
• Drop from heaping tablespoons onto a lightly greased cookie sheet 2 to 3 inches apart. If not icing you may press on the nuts or sprinkles now (or you can ice or frost and decorate with sprinkles after baking).
• Bake in a preheated 375F oven, center oven rack, 10 to 13 minutes or until cookie edges are slightly brown and tops look set. DO NOT OVERBAKE. Overbaking cause dry, hard cookies.
• Carefully remove to rack to cool. Frost or decorate as desired.
• Notes: recipe may be halved, cookies freeze well, for best baking use an insulated baking sheet as these tend to burn on the bottom. Store airtight.

ITALIAN CHRISTMAS SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• 1. Combine : butter, sugar, eggs , vanilla then add ricotta and mix well.
• 2. Add the dry ingredients flour, salt, baking soda. Mix well and drop by tablespoons onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, or a greased cookie sheet.
• 3. Bake 350* 10 minutes or so, just barely lt golden on the edges..remove to cooling rack.. Cool completely before putting vanilla frosting on top, then add sprinkles, if you have any left store in fridge...

ITALIAN PISTACHIO COOKIES (GLUTEN/GRAIN/SUGAR-FREE)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°C.
• In a food processor or blender, blend 1 cup of hulled pistachio nuts until it has been ground into a fine flour similar to the consistency of almond flour.
• Combine almond and pistachio flours and egg whites and mix well.
• Gently warm ¼ cup of unpasteurized honey on low to make it easy to mix and stir into almond pistachio mix.
• At this step if you find your mix is far too wet add more pistachio or almond flour ¼ cup or less at a time. You don't want the mix too dry though, it should remain fairly moist, if you add too much flour you will need to balance this out with another egg white.
• On parchment paper, spread out 1-2 cups of chopped pistachios or other nut preference.
• Using a spoon, scoop out 1-2 inch balls and roll them into the chopped pistachios until fully coated.
• Flatten balls slightly with a fork and bake for 12-15 minutes.
• Allow cookies to bake longer if you find the cookies too soft to the touch.
• Enjoy!

SOFT ITALIAN SUGAR COOKIES

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl, cream together shortening and sugar.
• Beat in eggs and vanilla.
• Combine flour, baking powder, and salt together (I use a whisk) and gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well.
• Shape dough into 1-1/2" balls.
• Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned.
• Remove to wire racks to cool after 2 minutes.
• ****FOR ICING****.
• In a small bowl, combine the milk, butter, vanilla and confectioners' sugar until smooth.
• Tint with food coloring (I prefer the gel) if desired.
• ****DECORATING****.
• Dip the cooled cookies into the icing.
• Sprinkle with colored sugars if desired.
• Place on waxed paper until icing is set.