Italian Christmas Cookies

 

I've been wanting to make these Italian Christmas cookies for a long time. So when my friend Grace brought them to Community Group last month as a dessert, I begged her for her recipe. 

I was so happy this morning when I tried it out and found that the dough has a beautiful texture and is easy to work with. You can shape these cookies any way you like. The recipe made almost 80 round cookies. This will be a new favorite for my annual cookie trays.

Italian Christmas Cookies (Grace calls them Nana's Cookies)

Cookie ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1 cup Crisco

3 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 T. vanilla

4 cups flour

1 T. baking powder

Glaze ingredients:

2 cups powdered sugar

3 T. milk

1/2 t. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a stand mixer, beat sugar and Crisco until combined. Add eggs, milk, and vanilla.

Whisk baking powder into flour. Add flour mixture, one cup at a time, to the above mixture.

Form dough into balls or other shapes and place on baking sheets.

Bake for 15 minutes (more or less depending on your oven). Until the bottoms are lightly browned. Cool cookies on cooling racks.

Mix powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla together in a small bowl. When the cookies are cool, dip the tops into the glaze and place them on a rimmed cookie sheet. Drop sprinkles on top to decorate.