Italian Butter Cookies

If you’ve ever been to an Italian bakery, you’ve probably seen Italian butter cookies. Unwrap their cellophane cloak to reveal an assortment of swirled, buttery treats, coated in sprinkles or sandwiched with jam. These cookies loom large in my childhood memories, though I don’t recall ever buying them myself. They simply materialized at any and every event, served on a shiny scallop-edged platter. They were always the slightest bit stale, as if they’d already been sitting out for a day or two (they very well might have been). Still, I’ve always held an inordinate fondness for them. Realizing I’d never seen anyone make them from scratch, I set out to reverse-engineer this nostalgic bakery mainstay.

Italian butter cookies come in various shapes—swirls or cat’s tongues—and everyone has their favorite (mine is the plain spiral with rainbow sprinkles). All of the variations start with the same base dough: intensely buttery, warm from a generous splash of vanilla, and tender from a combination of powdered and granulated sugars. Almond extract adds a backdrop of sweetness; seek out a quality bottle, like this one from Nielsen-Massey. It has a much more nuanced flavor than grocery store alternatives.

Piping these cookies is the only way to achieve their signature shape. Crucially, the cookie dough is just soft enough to pipe without giving you carpal tunnel syndrome. Freezing the cookies before baking helps them hold their shape in the oven. From there, choose your own adventure with the toppings and flavors. I’ve offered variations for rainbow sprinkle cookies, maraschino cherry cookies, and chocolate-dipped sandwich cookies. You can go all-in on one variety, but I recommend making an assortment for a mixed platter.