I will be catering several weddings this spring, so
I came up with my own version of
Italian wedding cookies,
after many trials, and a few errors to produce a
delicate buttery cookie that is made with ground
nuts. There are several different types of these
cookies which include the
Mexican Wedding cookies,
often coated with a mixture of cinnamon and
confectioners' sugar.
The Russian Tea Cakes
which can be made with ground hazelnuts, and
Italian Wedding
cookies which traditionally use ground almonds. All
of them are delicious, and each recipe utilizes a
different proportion of butter and flour. They are a
very good surprise in you mouth, delicate little
cookie. I would try all different types, or versions
to figure out the one you like best.
These
Italian Wedding
cookies are buttery, delicate, and have a wonderful
flavor. This is a very easy recipe to make, and they
are worth the effort put forth for every cookie and
crumble left.
Italian Wedding Cookies:
-
1½ cups unsalted butter
-
¾ cup confectioners' sugar
-
¾ teaspoon salt
-
1 ½ cups finely ground almonds
-
4 ½ teaspoons vanilla bean paste
-
3 cups of sifted all purpose flour
-
1/3 cup confectioners sugar for dipping
First, preheat your oven to 325 degrees if you have
an electric oven and about 300 to 315 if you have a
gas oven. Gas ovens cook much faster than an
electric oven depending on the oven. If you have a
convection oven I recommend turning the fan off if
you can, it will burn the cookies before they are
fully cooked.
First you will soften and mix the butter in a bowl,
and you will sift and then add the ¾ cup
confectioners sugar and salt to the butter. You will
then mix the butter, and sugar with salt mixture
until it is light and fluffy. You will now add the
ground almonds and the vanilla bean paste. You will
then add the sifted flour in until it just mixed,
you do not want to over mix, or overwork the dough.
The cookies will not be very light in texture if you
do.
Take about one teaspoon of dough in your hand at a
time, and roll it into a ball. You will then place
the rolled cookie dough balls on the parchment paper
or an ungreased cookie sheet if you do not have
parchment paper. You will then bake the cookies for
15-20 minutes. You will want to watch the first
batch fairly closely and turn halfway through baking
to ensure even cooking. You want to make sure to get
them cooked but not too brown. Once the cookies are
done you will remove from the oven, and cool the
cookies for about five minutes, and then roll in the
left over confectioners sugar.
You will then hold these little delicate cookies
until you are ready for service.
