ITALIAN BUTTER COOKIES

Italian bakery goodness direct from your own kitchen, what could be better than that? These Italian Butter Cookies will not disappoint! Tender, flavourful melt in your mouth goodness.

Unlike other butter cookies that are dense and crisp, these Italian Butter Cookies have a crumble like interior and melt right in your mouth. The addition of chocolate, make these fun for children and adults that are children at heart!

(Full disclosure: These cookies should have ridges/grooves; however, as I could not find my large star tip for my piping bag, I had to make use of a plain piping tip.)

ITALIAN BUTTER COOKIES

Prep Time: 60 Minutes (including dough, piping, chocolate and dipping/decorating)

Rest Time: 30 Minutes

Cook Time: 15 Minutes

Total Time: 1 Hour, 45 Minutes

Servings: 28 Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour

• 3/4 cup sugar

• 1 cup butter, cubed and at room temperature

(butter should be cut into small cubes)

• 2 large eggs

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping:

• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

(or whatever type of chocolate you have on hand)

• Sprinkles and/or crushed almonds

Materials:

• Kitchen scissors

• Parchment lined cookie sheets

• Piping bag

(or you can use a freezer bag like Ziploc)

• Large star tip for piping bag (about 1/2-inch diameter)

(or if you don't have a tip, you can just make a 1/2-inch diameter cut at the bottom of your pastry bag or in one corner of the freezer bag)

Instructions:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer and with the paddle attachment on, mix the butter and sugar until soft and well combined.

2. Next, add the eggs and vanilla extract and continue to mix until slightly fluffy.

3. Sift together the flour and baking powder into the bowl of the stand mixer and continue to mix, until the dough comes together.

4. Once the dough has come together, grab your piping bag fitted with your tip (if using a tip). Make sure to make a cut to allow the dough to come out of the bag!

5. Remove dough from the bowl and place it into the piping bag.

6. On your parchment lined cookie sheets, begin to pipe 2 1/2-inch long lines and use a scissor to snip the dough from the piping bag, after piping each line. This is to ensure a nice clean and uniform end. Make sure each piped line/cookie is spaced apart by 1 to 1 1/2-inches.

7. Once you have piped all your dough, place the cookie sheets into the fridge and let chill for 30 minutes.

(Tip: This will help to keep the shape, especially if you used a star tip for the piping - the grooves will remain.)

8. While the dough is chilling, begin to preheat your oven to 325 degrees and place the oven rack in the middle.

(Tip: Using a slightly lower temperature and placing the rack in the middle of the even will help to ensure the bottoms of the cookies do not burn or get too brown before the cookies are fully baked.)

9. After 30 minutes, place one cookie tray into the oven and bake for 15 minutes.

10. Once the cookies are ready, remove the cookie sheet from the oven and transfer cookies to a cooling rack.

11. Repeat steps 9 and 10 until all of the cookies are baked.

12. Once the cookies are fully cooled, you can begin to prepare the chocolate for dipping. Grab a small saucepan and place the chocolate inside. Heat the saucepan over low-medium heat and stir continuously, until the chocolate is all melted.

(Tip: Do not use high heat as it will burn the chocolate.)

13. Once the chocolate is melted, remove the saucepan from the heat.

14. Next, dunk one cookie at a time into the melted chocolate to coat approximately 1/3 of the cookie and then sprinkle either some colourful sprinkles or crushed almonds.

15. Place each cookie onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and let sit until the chocolate has dried.

16. Once the chocolate has dried, you can either begin to enjoy or immediately store into an air-tight container.

Hope you have fun making this recipe and that you enjoy eating the cookies even more!

P.S. Please, feel free to share your comments, thoughts and pictures of your baked goods here on this site or tag me on Instagram @italianwifechef .