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Soft Italian Cookies are dipped in a creamy glaze and topped with colorful sprinkles. They are perfect for holidays and special occasions!!
These tasty Italian Cookies are easy to make, make a ton, and are the cutest little cookie for special occasions or to give out as gifts! For more giftable cookies try Spritz Cookies, No Roll Sugar Cookies, or Turtle Thumbprint Cookies.
Italian Wedding Cookies
Have you ever tried Italian Wedding Cookies before?
Italian Cookies are traditionally flavored with anise, but no one in my family likes the taste of black licorice, so I used almond instead.
Almond is a common substitute for a more Americanized Italian Cookie version. If you don’t like anise or almond, you can also just use vanilla.
We love that these Italian Butter Cookies are not only simple, but they are tasty and pretty! They’re a great dessert to serve at parties or even holiday functions. And who can deny a cookie covered in glaze and sprinkles?
How to make Italian Cookies
COOKIE DOUGH. Whisk together eggs, oil, sugar, and extract in a mixing bowl. Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt.
CHILL. Roll dough by tablespoonfuls into balls. Chill balls of dough for at least an hour, or freeze for 15-20 minutes. Place cold dough balls on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.
BAKE. Bake in the oven at 350°F for about 9 minutes, or till the tops are set. Bottoms will be lightly browned, but tops should still be white. Remove cookies to cooling racks and cool completely.
GLAZE. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk till smooth, adding enough warm cream to get a thin but creamy consistency.
Dip the tops of the cookies in the glaze, then top with sprinkles.
The cookies are best eaten within a day or two after they are glazed. After that, the color from the sprinkles starts to bleed. Pastel colors bleed less.
Recipe Tips
Italian Sprinkle Cookies are an easy treat, but here are a few tips and variations to help!
Flavor. The vanilla extract can be substituted with almond extract, lemon extract, or anise extract which has a black licorice-like taste.
Flat cookies. If cookies end up being flat it is probably because the levitating ingredients weren’t sufficient. Try using less flour next time, the dough may have been too heavy for the egg, oil, and baking powder to lift.
Glaze. Make sure to let the glaze dry/harden a little bit before adding the sprinkles on top. Having the glaze be kind of “tacky” will help the sprinkles stick to the cookies better, rather than just having the glaze and the sprinkles fall off the cookies.
Nuts. Mix in up to 1 cup of chopped nuts (almond or walnuts) or mini chocolate chips.
Different shapes. These cookies should hold their shape pretty well.
- Round: Roll the dough into balls and they bake up with a nice, rounded top.
- Flat: Place the dough balls on the baking tray and use a glass cup dipped in flour or powdered sugar to gently press the tops of the balls a bit flat.
- Shape: Roll the dough balls into a short rope and form it into a squat “s” shape or tie it into a knot.
Sprinkles. I love the classic nonpareils sprinkles but you can use any type of sprinkles, including holiday shapes or sugar crystals, making them a perfect cookie to serve year-round.
Chrismas Version
We sure do love these Italian cookies, and especially love that you can change up the colors of sprinkles to match any holiday or celebration. The kids love that they also taste great!
Since Christmas is just around the corner, I sprinkled a few of my cookies with green and red nonpareils. Be sure to check out our Italian Christmas Cookies recipe for more holiday specific tips there. 😉
If you don’t like the crunch that comes with nonpareils, you can also use jimmies (softer and longer sprinkles) too.
SToring Info
STORE baked Italian Cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
FREEZE. Make these cookies ahead of time then freeze them without the glaze. Thaw before glazing.
Make the glaze up to 5 days ahead of time. Bring the glaze to room temperature before trying to dip the cookies.
STORE the dough. Roll the dough into a ball, wrap it tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 4 days.
FREEZE the dough in a large ball by wrapping it with plastic and again with aluminum foil. Or form the dough into balls and place them on a baking tray and into the freezer.
Once the dough balls are solid, transfer them to a freezer-safe Ziploc. The dough can keep in the freezer for 2-3 months. Thaw before baking.
For more Christmas cookies:
- Crazy Christmas Cookies
- Snowball Cookies
- Gingerbread Cookies
- Christmas Cookie Bars
- Christmas Sugar Cookies
Italian Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 6 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tsp almond, anise, or vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
Glaze
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp almond extract, or vanilla extract
- 1 pinch salt
- 3-4 Tbsp cream or milk, warmed
Instructions
- Whisk together eggs, oil, sugar, and extract in a mixing bowl. Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Roll dough by tablespoonfuls into balls. Chill balls of dough for at least an hour, or freeze for 15-20 minutes. Place cold dough balls on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.
- Bake at 350° for about 9 minutes, or till the tops are set. Bottoms will be lightly browned, but tops should still be white. Remove cookies to cooling racks and cool completely.
- For the glaze, combine all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk till smooth, adding enough warm cream to get a thin but creamy consistency.
- Dip the tops of the cookies in the glaze, then top with sprinkles.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Ty
You are so welcome!
CAN YOU USE BUTTER INSTEAD OF OIL FOR THE ITALIAN WEDDING COOKIES WITH ICING
I personally haven’t tried, but I am sure it would work. Might turn out slightly different.
Made them 3 x already and they dont last a day, I have to hide them !!! Sooooo good!
LOL!! I love this! Thank you for sharing that!
Hi! Is it best to ice cookies when ready to eat !!? Will the glaze melt if done a couple days before serving
i have always glazed and sprinkled them right after they’ve cooled off. but don’t refrigerate them, that will cause a type of condensation and the color from your sprinkles may run. i pack them in saran wrap in sealed tins or Tupperware, and they keep nicely (if you hide them from everyone, for several days). Glaze shouldn’t melt unless you live somewhere really warm.
This is so good! I followed each step with this Recipe. It came out just like the picture. So easy TO make! Very sUccessfulLy. They taste so great that we finished within 30 mins (i only made half amount of the Recipe). It taste good with or without the sugar coating. This recipe is definitely a keeper. Ill make it again in the Near FuTure. Thank you.
You are so welcome! Thank you so much for saying that! I am so glad you tried them & liked them, as much as we do!
Havent tried your recipe but I will. My family always used lemon flavor in ours and we use it in the cookies not the glaze. I have a distant cousin that used to make them a bunch for the weddings in the area my mom grew up but when I asked for her recipe she either didnt give it to me right(shes weird about giving people her recipes and i swear she intentionally sabotages) or she is losing it and made some errors(shes over 80 so its possible). So I am in the market for a recipe that isnt dry as can be.
I am ok with it being on the oilier side because I really just dont want a dry cookie. I felt like hers were always a bit dry anyway. I will rate it once I make it
I thought it was good but I feel like it needed some butter in it
I used the almond extract…….tasty
Hi! I have queStions!
What kind of oil is used for this vegetable? OLive?
What is better to use Thr almond or vanilla?
Whats Better cream or milk? And what kind of cream, like heavy cream?
I would use vegetable oil & I personally love almond, but really it’s a preference. And, yes, heavy cream or milk works perfect too. No wrong way 🙂 Hope you like these!
Hi, i followed this Recipe step by step and the dough is just INCREDIBLYyy oily? Is there a typo online with how much oil is supposed tO be added? I dont wAnt to give this a poor rating, they look beautIful online! Would love to make these pRoperly 🙁
This is my contributors recipe at, https://www.creationsbykara.com/. You might want to leave her a comment, asking her, since what is shown, is the recipe from her. You will find out faster 🙂
I thought the recipe was right on i didnt think the dough was oily at all
Where do I find almond anise?????
You should be able to find anise in your baking aisle, near the other extracts. Hope you find it!
My family has MADe Italian cookies for decades, my mom learned to make them from her mother-in-law, my grandma, who came to the U.S. from Naples as a little girl. these cookies bring back such fond memories, and it was a taste of my youth. this recipe is very similar to our family RECIPE. if you find the dough TOO oily to roll when you first make it, try refrigerating it first, then roll into balls and pop them in THE oven right away. i love anise, but when i used to make these when i was a girl i would use almond for the dough and vanilla for the glaze as no one else in my family likes anise. i don’t suggest using butter in this recipe, it would totally change the flavor, and possibly the texture of the cookies. i stopped making these years ago and my younger sister is the one who now carries on the tradition and she’ll mail me a batch for Christmas every year…now i can go back to making my own! thank you for the recipe!
Thanks for sharing that! Glad you found this recipe & will go back to making them 🙂
You can buy Anise online Amazon better to use pure anise not the extract
That should be almond OR anise extract. They are 2 different kinds.
Almond and anise are 2 different extracts. The recipe was missing a comma between them.
I prefer this version with the almond instead as well!