Italian Cookies

These Italian Cookies are mild, tender, and delicious almond flavored cookies, coated with icing, and are easily customized to suit any occasion or holiday!

We just love sugar cookies! More options to choose from include our easy sugar cookies, cut out sugar cookies, and chocolate sugar cookies.

Italian Cookies – Italian Wedding Cookies

Affectionately referred to as Italian Cookies, Italian Wedding Cookies, Italian Almond Cookies, and Anise Cookies, but no matter what you call them, they are a classic and always delicious.

Unlike sugar cookies that need to be rolled out and shaped with cookie cutters (which I also love!), these Italian Cookies are simply shaped into balls with a cookie scoop and dropped onto a baking sheet. The cookie dough is only mildly sweet, so the sweet icing provides great balance. They turn out pillowy-soft and practically melt in your mouth!

Italian Cookies Recipe Ingredients

I’ve seen these cookies made with oil, butter, or shortening. I make my pie crust with shortening, so that’s what I choose to use in these cookies. It results in a very tender crumb. I also use almond extract in place of traditional anise, since my family doesn’t like the taste of black licorice.
(Scroll below to the printable recipe card for measurements and details.)

• All-purpose flour – Measure the flour by the spoon and level technique, not scooped.
• Baking powder – Needed to give the cookies lift.
• Shortening – Makes the cookies so light and tender.
• Granulated sugar – For sweetness.
• Eggs – To bind the dough.
• Salt – For flavor.
• Almond extract – These cookies are traditionally flavored with anise, but we much prefer almond extract. It gives the cookies a wonderful subtle cherry flavor.
• For the icing: Powdered sugar, whole milk, light corn syrup, almond extract, and salt.

Recipe Variations

There are a few ways you can change up these cookies.

• Use a different flavor extract. Use anise, almond, vanilla, lemon, or orange flavored extract, depending on your taste.
• Add-ins. Add to the dough a 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips OR 1/4 cup finely chopped almonds.
• Change the color of the icing. Add colored food dye to the icing to suit your occasion.
• Try nonpareils. You can top the icing with nonpareils instead of sprinkles, and change up the colors to match your holiday.

How to Make Italian Cookies

These cookies are so easy to make, delicious, and incredibly pretty displayed on a plate! Here’s a summary:
(Scroll below to the printable recipe card for measurements and details.)

1. Make the dough. Beat together shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs and almond extract. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt, then gradually add it to the wet ingredients.
2. Form the dough balls. Using a cookie scoop, shape dough into 1 1/2-inch sized balls. Place on parchment lined baking sheets at least 1-inch apart (do not flatten.)
3. Bake. Bake at 400F for 8-10 minutes or until the bottoms are just slightly golden brown. Remove from oven and transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
4. Top with icing and sprinkles. Combine powdered sugar, milk, corn syrup, almond extract, and salt until smooth. Dip the tops of cookies in the icing; allow excess to drip off. Place back on the parchment paper and top with the sprinkles before it dries; let stand until completely set and enjoy!

Tips for Success

If this is your first time making Italian Wedding Cookies, follow these tips for optimal results:

• Measure the flour accurately. Spoon and level the flour when measuring. Scooping can result in excess flour and a dry, crumbly cookie.
• Use a cookie scoop for uniformity. When scooping the dough, use a cookie dough scoop to make sure cookies are all the same size. This ensures they all bake at the same rate.
• Make sure the dough is smooth. The balls of dough should be completely smooth to reduce the amount of cracking during baking.
• Cool completely before icing. The cookies should be completely cooled before icing, otherwise the icing will just drip off.
• Adding the sprinkles. Add sprinkles/nonpareils while the icing is still tacky or they won’t stick. Note that pastel colored sprinkles bleed a lot less. You can also top with sanding sugar.

How To Store Italian Cookies

• To store: The cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
• To freeze cooked cookies: They can be frozen (without the glaze) in an airtight container for up to 2 months. Thaw completely and add the glaze the day you serve them.
• To freeze raw dough: The raw cookie dough can be frozen in balls for up to 2 months. Just thaw them overnight in a refrigerator and bake them as stated in this recipe.

More Easy Cookie Recipes:

• Cut Out Sugar Cookies
• Thumbprint Cookies
• Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
• Snowball Cookies
• Ritz Cracker Cookies
• Haystack Cookies

I hope you love this delicious and easy recipe – be sure to give it a review below! Also don’t forget to follow Belly Full on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube!

Italian Cookies

5 from 16 Ratings

These Italian Cookies are mild, tender, and delicious almond flavored cookies, coated with icing, and are easily customized to suit any occasion or holiday!

Print Recipe Rate Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Cooling 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 36 cookies

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

For the Cookie Dough

• 3 cups all-purpose flour , spooned and leveled
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup shortening
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon almond extract

For the Icing

• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 3-4 tablespoons whole milk
• 1 1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• pinch of salt
• sprinkles

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
• In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat shortening and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in eggs and almond extract. Gradually add in the flour mixture until combined.
• Using a cookie scoop, shape dough into 1 1/2-inch sized balls. Place on baking sheets at least 1-inch apart (do not flatten.)
• Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the bottoms are just slightly golden brown. Remove from oven and transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
• For the Icing: in a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar, milk, corn syrup, almond extract, and salt until smooth (add more powdered sugar if it's too thin or more milk if it's too thick. It should be thick, but drizzling consistency.)
• Dip the tops of cookies in the icing; allow excess to drip off. Place back on the parchment paper and top with the sprinkles; let stand until completely set and enjoy!

Notes

Why use shortening? I’ve seen these cookies made with oil, butter, or shortening. I make my pie crust with shortening, so that’s what I choose to use in these cookies. It results in a very tender crumb. I have not tested this particular recipe with oil or butter.

Use a different flavor extract. My family prefers almond extract in place of traditional anise, since we don’t like the taste of black licorice. But you can use anise. You could use vanilla, lemon, or orange flavored extract, depending on your taste.

Optional add-ins. Add to the dough a 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips OR 1/4 cup finely chopped almonds. Not both or the dough might be too crumbly.

Change the color of the icing. Add colored food dye to the icing to suit your occasion.

Try nonpareils or sanding sugar. You can top the icing with nonpareils or sanding sugar instead of sprinkles, and change up the colors to match your holiday.

Nutrition

Calories: 134kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 16mg | Sodium: 8mg | Potassium: 53mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 25IU | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and any changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are very important to you, I would recommend calculating them yourself.

Other Notes

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: Italian Cookies, Italian Wedding Cookies

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