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 has a few variations from the traditional recipe used in many cultures. To say this cookie is ONLY Italian would be narcissistic.

This cookie is made in many cultures. You may know them as Russian tea cakes or Mexican wedding cookies. All of these are variations of the same basic recipe.

This was the first cookie I was allowed to bake on my own once my mom deemed me worthy of being in the kitchen.

She still hovered over me and gave me a directions CONTINUALLY on how the butter should be creamed, the nuts properly chopped etc.

That unsolicited cooking advice never did stop even to this day!

I do believe this Italian wedding cookie recipe was what gave me confidence in the kitchen at an early age. It was my first cookie triumph. It's really hard to mess up.




Italian Wedding Cookie Recipe



Yield: Two dozen Crescent Shaped Cookies

Ingredients


Italian Wedding Cookie REcipe 03 * 1 1/2 cups (350 ml) unsalted butter softened

* 3/4 cup (160 ml) powdered sugar

* 1/4 teaspoon (1.25 ml) salt

* 1 1/2 cups (350 ml) finely ground almonds

* 1 1/2 tablespoon (22.5 ml) of vanilla extract

* 3 cups (700 ml) sifted all-purpose flour

* 1/3 cup (160 ml)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 15-20 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 I love sugar and I eat dessert EVERYDAY! Ok, not MASSIVE amounts. But I do have to finish off the evening meal with a little sweet something.

    When I was a kid my health conscience mother would ration my Halloween candy. Her mantra was, "white sugar will kill you". But my Italian grandma always told me, "Everybody needs a little bit of sugar." :-) So, to get my October Halloween sugar fix I will make the traditional Italian cookie recipe, Venetian Bones of the Dead. Italians make these for the Day of the Dead on November 2nd. So - hey, our holiday in America - Halloween is the closest.

    So - while the neighborhood is slamming down a bunch of gross mass produced candy on October 31st, I'll have a real goodie. Oh yeah, I'll have to post it too! (Eventually!) You know how it is. Work. Kids. Clean. Cook.



    I'll see if Bones Of The Dead is in my grandma's first recipe file she started when she married in 1932. Most of the recipes on my site came from her influence. If they aren't in her file - then I got them from her friends. And the remainder I experimented with adapting her style.

    I hope she looks down and smiles this Halloween.

    Lisa


    Would you like to share this page? You know how to do it! Thanks for sharing the sugar love!




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    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.