Italian Christmas Cookies Recipes

Italian Christmas cookies recipes always make the season a little sweeter and a lot more fun.

Italian Christmas Cookies Recipes

Christmas is the season for sweets. Whether it's fruitcake or pumpkin pie or cookies, the array of Christmas treats seems endless. Nowhere is this truer than when you are looking at Italian Christmas cookies. Recipes range from the deep fried struffoli to anisette-flavored belfanini.

Belfanini

Ingredients

• 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ cups butter, softened
• 1 ¼ cups sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons anisette or 1 teaspoon of anise extract
• Zest of 1 orange
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tablespoons cream
• Sprinkles

Instructions

1. Place the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and mix well.
2. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer and beat on medium speed until the butter is light and fluffy.
3. Add the egg and two egg yolks.
4. Beat for two minutes and then scrape the mixture down the bowl.
5. Add the vanilla extract, the anisette or anise extract, and zest.
6. Beat for one minute.
7. Turn down the speed to low and then add the flour mixture one cup at a time.
8. Remove the dough from the mixer, flatten into a disk about one inch thick, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for at least one hour.
9. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
10. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper.
11. Cut the dough into four pieces.
12. Place one piece of dough on a lightly floured surface; return the remaining dough to the refrigerator.
13. Roll the dough out to ¼-inch thick.
14. Using a star shaped cookie cutter, cut out as many cookies as possible.
15. Gather the scraps together and form a ball, roll out again and cut as many stars as you can.
16. Do the same for the rest of the dough in the refrigerator.
17. Whisk together the remaining egg yolk and cream.
18. Brush each cookie with the wash.
19. Sprinkle with the sprinkles.
20. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes or until lightly brown.

Pine Nut Cookies

I always like to have these cookies around the house during Christmas, in fact, they are one of my favorite Italian Christmas cookies. Recipes can include ground fennel seeds but if you can't find fennel seeds, ground or not, you can just leave them out. On the other hand, if you can find fennel seeds you can grind them in your spice or blade coffee grinder. For extra added flavor, try toasting them in your oven at 350 degrees for 5 minutes before grinding them.

Ingredients

• 1 stick of butter
• ½ cup of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon of ground, toasted fennel seeds
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup pine nuts

Instructions

1. In the bowl of your stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat together the butter, sugar, vanilla, fennel seed, and salt.
2. Beat until light and fluffy.
3. Add the egg.
4. Beat until completely incorporated.
5. Add the flour and mix until just incorporated.
6. Place the dough on a sheet of parchment paper and roll into a log about 1 ½-inches thick.
7. Refrigerate for two to three hours.
8. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
9. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper.
10. Cut the dough log into ¼ inch disks.
11. Place the cookies on the cookie sheets and press the pine nuts into the top of the cookies.
12. Bake for 15 minutes or lightly golden brown.
13. Let cool on a rack.