Walk into an Italian bakery and you're likely to see shelves and shelves of butter cookies in an array of varieties and shapes. They may be decked out in sprinkles, filled with jam or fudge, or dipped in chocolate.
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Before I started baking so often at home, I'd take my little one to a nearby Italian bakery and aside from the almond cookies, he always wanted these butter cookies. I think they're generally popular with kids since they're so eye-catching with all the chocolate, colorful sprinkles and jam involved. Moreover, the pure flavor of butter and vanilla just goes down easy.
So this year, with my son in mind, I thought I'd try my hand at making these kid-friendly cookies at home. In all their varieties, but from one basic dough, they are festive-looking and great for a holiday cookie platter.
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I kept things traditional and simple, resisting the urge to add vanilla beans or almond extract, or to try the version that contains almond paste. Those are projects for another time. This basic cookie dough is fun to play with in terms of the variety of cookies you can make. You can pipe different shapes using one star tip. For the embellishments, I tucked some of the centers with mini chocolate chips, candied cherries, and fruit preserves before baking. I sandwich some together with apricot preserve and dipped a bunch in chocolate ganache. Sprinkles make everything even better.
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I kept things traditional and simple, resisting the urge to add vanilla beans or almond extract, or to try the version that contains almond paste. Those are projects for another time. This basic cookie dough is fun to play with in terms of the variety of cookies you can make. You can pipe different shapes using one star tip. For the embellishments, I tucked some of the centers with mini chocolate chips, candied cherries, and fruit preserves before baking. I sandwich some together with apricot preserve and dipped a bunch in chocolate ganache. Sprinkles make everything even better.
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These also make me think of Danish butter cookies - those blue tins have a special place in my heart. I didn't grow up eating many sweets but we did have those butter cookies. As a child, I loved opening up the tin, taking a long whiff of that delicious buttery aroma, and looking inside, I'd finger those paper liners, deciding which shape I wanted to eat. I loved the pretzel shape with the coarse sugar on top the best. These cookies are similar to Danish butter cookies though it seems the Danish ones are more commonly made with confectioners' sugar (somewhat like these cookies). Now I realize I'll have yet another project for next Christmas!
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This basic butter cookie dough comes together lickety-split! You might very well consider doubling the recipe (as the recipe didn't make as many cookies as I thought it would) if you want to have plenty to share with kids and kids-at-heart. Because of how different you can make them, they really make a lovely little cookie platter all by themselves.
Piping is not something I do all that often. I worried about this but it was surprisingly easy. All of these butter cookie recipes ask you to use a "large star tip". I used Ateco 864, the closest thing I had to it. I also tried a Wilton 1M tip but I found the groves to be a little too distinct and preferred using the Ateco 864.
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I've seen these cookies filled with ganache or fudge in the center at many Italian bakeries. To do that, press a hole into the center of the cookie before baking and fill or pipe in the ganache once the cookie cools. With a fudge filling like this one, you could even fill them before baking.
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If using ganache like I do, you could sandwich a couple of cookies with it or or fill them with fruit preserves, then dip in ganache and top with sprinkles. I did a little of each. (And I used my leftover ganache to make hot chocolate!)
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Recipe:
Italian-American Butter Cookies
Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis
- Approximately 2 1/2 dozen cookies but it depends on the size of your cookies (and whether you make sandwich cookies) -
For base cookie dough:
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
Filling/decorating options (depending on your preference):
Miniature chocolate chips, fruit preserves (such as apricot, strawberry, raspberry), candied cherries, dark chocolate or ganache, sprinkles, nonpareils, and/or chopped nuts and candies
For cookie dough:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and set racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon baking mats.
In a stand mixer, beat butter, sugar, vanilla and salt together on medium-high speed until fluffy. Beat in the egg. On low-speed, add flour and beat until just incorporated.
Fit a pastry bag with a large star tip (I used Ateco #864). Fill the bag with the cookie dough (I like to set the bag inside a tall glass, fold the top of the bag over to make a cuff, and then fill it). [Alternatively, if you do not want to pipe the dough, you could roll the dough into 1-inch rounds, press a hole in the center with your thumb and place a filling inside it to make thumbprint cookies.]
Pipe the dough onto baking sheets into stars (or other shapes), spacing about 1-inch apart. See decorating options below. Bake cookies until lightly golden along the edges, about 15 minutes, rotating the baking sheets midway through the baking time. Let cool 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
Decorating options:
- Bake cookies as is and when cooled, sandwich two together with a fruit preserve of your choice or with chocolate ganache. Dip one end of the sandwich cookie with melted chocolate or ganache, add sprinkles on top of that, if desired.
- Bake cookies as is and dip half of each cookie with ganache or melted dark chocolate. Add sprinkles, crushed candies, or nuts over chocolate. Set on parchment until chocolate sets.
- Before baking, press 3-5 miniature chocolate chips into the center of each cookie.
- Before baking, make a deep indentation in the center of the dough with your thumb. Fill the indent with fruit preserves or candied cherries (or fudge), then bake as directed.
- To fill the center of the cookies with ganache, make indentations in the cookie dough before baking and bake without filling. After the cookies have baked and cooled completely, pipe or spoon thickened ganache into the empty indentations.
Italian-American Butter Cookies
Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis
- Approximately 2 1/2 dozen cookies but it depends on the size of your cookies (and whether you make sandwich cookies) -
For base cookie dough:
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
Filling/decorating options (depending on your preference):
Miniature chocolate chips, fruit preserves (such as apricot, strawberry, raspberry), candied cherries, dark chocolate or ganache, sprinkles, nonpareils, and/or chopped nuts and candies
For cookie dough:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and set racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon baking mats.
In a stand mixer, beat butter, sugar, vanilla and salt together on medium-high speed until fluffy. Beat in the egg. On low-speed, add flour and beat until just incorporated.
Fit a pastry bag with a large star tip (I used Ateco #864). Fill the bag with the cookie dough (I like to set the bag inside a tall glass, fold the top of the bag over to make a cuff, and then fill it). [Alternatively, if you do not want to pipe the dough, you could roll the dough into 1-inch rounds, press a hole in the center with your thumb and place a filling inside it to make thumbprint cookies.]
Pipe the dough onto baking sheets into stars (or other shapes), spacing about 1-inch apart. See decorating options below. Bake cookies until lightly golden along the edges, about 15 minutes, rotating the baking sheets midway through the baking time. Let cool 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
Decorating options:
- Bake cookies as is and when cooled, sandwich two together with a fruit preserve of your choice or with chocolate ganache. Dip one end of the sandwich cookie with melted chocolate or ganache, add sprinkles on top of that, if desired.
- Bake cookies as is and dip half of each cookie with ganache or melted dark chocolate. Add sprinkles, crushed candies, or nuts over chocolate. Set on parchment until chocolate sets.
- Before baking, press 3-5 miniature chocolate chips into the center of each cookie.
- Before baking, make a deep indentation in the center of the dough with your thumb. Fill the indent with fruit preserves or candied cherries (or fudge), then bake as directed.
- To fill the center of the cookies with ganache, make indentations in the cookie dough before baking and bake without filling. After the cookies have baked and cooled completely, pipe or spoon thickened ganache into the empty indentations.
