italian dessert recipes

Italian Wedding Cookie Recipe

"One of the easiest Italian cookie recipes!"
No eggs and very few ingredients.




Italian Wedding Cookie Recipe 02
The Italian Wedding Cookie Recipe is one of those traditional Italian Cookie Recipes. It has a few variations from the traditional recipe used in many cultures. To say this cookie is ONLY Italian would be narcissistic.

You may know them as Russian tea cakes or Mexican wedding cookies. Each ethnicity has a small variation.

This was the first cookie I was allowed to bake on my own. My mom was (still is) the food-goddess of the kitchen. She guards her domain with a passion.

She would stand over me and give directions ON EVERY STEP. "The butter needs to be creamed this way... hold the knife like this to chop the nuts..."

And it still continues even to this day!

I do think this Italian wedding cookie recipe gave me confidence in the kitchen at an early age. It was my first cookie triumph. It's really hard to mess up. (But, I didn't know that at the time.)

If this isn't the type of cookie you were looking for scroll to the bottom and see the other Italian cookie recipes I have on my site.

And if that's still not what you are looking for check out my homepage of Italian dessert recipes.

Lisa


Italian Wedding Cookie Recipe



Yield: Two dozen Crescent Shaped Cookies

Ingredients


Italian Wedding Cookie REcipe 03 * 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter softened

* 3/4 cup powdered sugar

* 1/4 teaspoon salt

* 1 1/2 cups finely ground almonds

* 1 1/2 tablespoon of vanilla extract

* 3 cups sifted all-purpose flour

* 1/3 cup powdered sugar for rolling

Procedure

 1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

2. Cream softened butter in a bowl, gradually add powdered sugar and salt.

3. Beat until light and fluffy.

4. Add almonds and vanilla.

5. Blend in flour gradually and mix well.

6. Shape into crescents using about 1 teaspoon for each cookie. It gets your cookies about the same size if you start with a teaspoon.

7. Place on ungreased cookie sheets, and bake for -20 min.

Do not brown. Cool for a short time, but while warm roll in the powdered sugar. Once the cookie cools, roll in the powdered sugar again.





Italian Wedding Cookie Recipe
Substitutions and Questions



What nuts can I substitute for the almonds?


Italian wedding cookie recipe
If you want to keep this cookie with and Italian edge to it you could use walnuts. Hazelnuts are used often in our cooking - but hazelnuts are distinct. If you substitute hazelnuts, cut back the amount.

Can I substitute almond flavoring for the vanilla?


Yes, but I wouldn't substitute ALL of the vanilla for ALL almond. Use a bit of each and experiment.

Can I substitute almond meal for the finely ground almonds?


Nope, almond meal is really ground down. The texture just wouldn't be there! Use your blender on a "pulse" setting to get your almonds finely chopped.

Can I substitute margarine or shortening for the butter?


Nope. I mean, yes you can....but do you really want to?

  • These cookies don't have a lot of ingredients to cover up the synthetic whang that shortening and margarine give to a recipe.


  • The texture would change to a more cake like cookie. You don't want that with these. These are hard and the butter gets them to that.


  • Too, all over this site you will see my HATE for margarine or shortening. There are very few times I (and many other dessert purists) will substitute a synthetic product for a dairy item.
    Most truly authentic Italian dessert recipes are centered around fresh ingredients.


    • Do I have to shape in a crescent?


    Nope. The shape won't make or break the recipe. The crescent shape is just and Italian thing. I always think of Stella D'Oro cookies when I shape these and *try* to get my shape to resemble theirs. Some other ethnic variations are

  • The Mexican version uses the same recipe but flatten the cookie


  • The Russian version uses the same recipe but roll in balls.


    • The couple of differences in the Italian Wedding Cookie Recipe versus the others:

  • Almonds are used for the nut


  • The crescent shape

    • Back to the top of the Italian Wedding Cookie Recipe.


    Looking for other Italian cookie recipes?

    
    Lisa Gianotti

    Memorial Day and Warmer Weather Treats!



    It's finally warming up! In my neck of the woods we had SNOW on May 2nd. Now were on to the warm weather sweet treats!

    I started celebrating by having a Sangria last night. Sangria is so easy to make - and the trick to making it spectacular is - following the super easy procedure. IF you need a brush up see:

    How to Make Sangria

    As for Memorial Day Goodies - I bake the LESS sticky stuff if I have to travel. And something that the kids can grab with their fingers as they cruise by the dessert table and run off to their next game. Cookies and brownies work the best for this!

    The past month, these are my top five most viewed cookie recipes:

    #1 Anisette Cookies

    #2 Italian Wedding Cookie Recipe

    #3 Pizzelle Recipe

    #4 Ricotta Cheese Cookies

    #5 Meringue Cookie Recipe

    Have a fun filled Memorial Day!



    Lisa


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    easy italian dessert
    Recipes on this site are from family cookbooks, family traditions, or intentional adaptations from traditional recipes to add an Italian flair. If a recipe was adapted or used from another cook - it is mentioned on the recipe page and the recipe author is given credit.