Italian Sprinkle Cookies (Italian Wedding Cookies)
These Italian Sprinkle Cookies (also known as Italian Wedding Cookies) are delicious, sweet, and soft cookies dunked into a sweet glaze and topped with colorful sprinkles. You'll be looking for any excuse to make and serve these sweet little bites.
Italian Sprinkle Cookies (Italian Wedding Cookies)
If you've never had Italian Sprinkle Cookies, you are in for a treat! They are basically a soft sugar cookie but in ball form that has been submerged into a sweet glaze and topped with sprinkles. As my queen, Ina Garten would say, "How bad can that be?"
From what I understand, traditional Italian Sprinkle Cookies are made with anise which is the taste of black licorice. I feel like that is a flavor you either love or hate and I am not a fan. You'll notice in my recipe that I used almond, lemon, and vanilla extract instead. This creates a really delicious flavor combo that I can certainly get behind. Sorry, anise.
These Italian Sprinkle Cookies are really simple to make too. The dough comes together quickly, there's no chilling time required, and you dip them into the icing right out of the oven. The longest waiting period is allowing that sweet glaze to cool.
The recipe that I worked from to create these Italian Sprinkle Cookies made seven dozen cookies. Yikes, that's a lot of cookies. I pared it down to three and a half dozen. With that being said, if you want a batch of seven dozen, just double the ingredients in the recipe card below and you'll be good to go.
I also made a Christmas version of this recipe. (Don't get too excited, I just changed the color of the sprinkles.) In that recipe, which I will post closer to the holiday season, I will provide ingredient amounts for the larger batch. I hope that's helpful!
If you've never made this type of cookie before, do give them a try. And have fun changing up the nonpareil sprinkle colors to suit the celebration, occasion, or holiday.
Onto the recipe!
How to Make Italian Sprinkle Cookies:
Begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the flour, confectioners' sugar, and baking powder. Mix on low speed.
Gradually beat in the shortening, almond extract, and lemon extract until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.
In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs until light and foamy. Slowly add the beaten eggs to the flour and shortening mixture. The dough will be stiff.
Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and place about 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet.
Bake for about 10-12 minutes. The tops of the cookies will remain white, and the bottoms will be slightly browned.
In a small bowl, make the glaze by whisking together the confectioners' sugar, milk, almond extract, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt. Whisk until smooth.
As soon as you remove the cookies from the oven, glaze the cookies. Working in batches of about four cookies, add them to the bowl of glaze, turn them around with a fork, and then remove them from the glaze. Use the fork to place the cookies on a cooling rack to drain. Immediately top this set of cookies with sprinkles. Repeat with remaining cookies.
When glazing your cookies, I recommend placing a piece of wax paper under your cooling rack to make for easy clean-up.
Once the cookies are cool and the glaze is set, pack in an airtight container.
And that's a wrap on these Italian Sprinkle Cookies.
Kitchen Tools I Recommend for This Recipe:
Whether you're wondering what equipment you'll need for this recipe, curious about my favorite utensils, or if you are just looking to stock your own kitchen, these are the kitchen tools I recommend for this recipe:
Want more? You can find the list of My Ultimate Kitchen Essentials HERE.
Trust me on this one, they look as delicious as they taste. While these are perfect for the holidays and other celebrations, I also love them just as much when served with a cup of coffee or tea. It's the perfect combination and just enough of a treat to satisfy any sweet tooth.
Happy Baking!
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Italian Sprinkle Cookie Recipe:
Italian Sprinkle Cookies
These Italian Sprinkle Cookies (also known as Italian Wedding Cookies) are delicious, sweet, and soft cookies dunked into a sweet glaze and topped with colorful sprinkles. You'll be looking for any excuse to make and serve these sweet little bites.
- 3 large eggs
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup shortening ((Crisco))
- 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
Glaze
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1/3 cup whole milk (warmed)
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch kosher salt
- colored nonpareils
- Begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the flour, confectioners' sugar, and baking powder. Mix on low speed.
- Gradually beat in the shortening, almond extract, and lemon extract until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs until light and foamy. Slowly add the beaten eggs to the flour and shortening mixture. The dough will be stiff.
- Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and place about 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet.
- Bake for about 10-12 minutes. The tops of the cookies will remain white, and the bottoms will be slightly browned.
- In a small bowl, make the glaze by whisking together the confectioners' sugar, milk, almond extract, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt. Whisk until smooth.
- As soon as you remove the cookies from the oven, glaze the cookies. Working in batches of about four cookies, add them to the bowl of glaze, turn them around with a fork, and then remove them from the glaze. Use the fork to place the cookies on a cooling rack to drain. Immediately top this set of cookies with sprinkles. Repeat with remaining cookies.
- Once the cookies are cool and the glaze is set, pack in an airtight container.
When glazing your cookies, I recommend placing a piece of wax paper under your cooling rack to make for easy clean-up.
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