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Easy and quick, this is the best Italian Wedding Cookies recipe ever. Loaded with walnuts and hazelnuts and coated in fluffy powder sugar like a snowball, these Italian cookies melt in your mouth and are sure to steal everybody’s heart!
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Italian Wedding Cookies
I know this is random you guys, and although I have made and photographed more than 5 recipes this week, today I bring to you the best Christmas Cookies, otherwise known as butterball or Russian Tea Cakes!
Because last night I started craving cookies, so weir, so random, but I couldn’t help it. And then I remembered I stocked up on organic butter at the market last week because it was something like 50% off. Clearly the cookies were begging to be made!
So here I am, cleaning little cookie crumbs out of my keyboard while I rush to share this easy recipe with you.
Let me be more specific: stupidly easy Italian wedding cookies recipe, you just can’t fail at this!
- Basically I make everything in the bowl of my Kitchen Aid mixer, just whisk all ingredients together, one by one until combined.
- Shape the dough into golfball size balls and bake for 20 minutes, no need to chill the dough. I made about 45 cookies out of one batch of dough, I suspect you could shape them even smaller and end up with about 55. Patience was not my virtue yesterday. See what you can master friends!
- Coat your cookies like crazy in tons of powder sugar and indulge!
What Makes this the Best Italian Wedding Cookies Recipe is All that Butter
- Good organic butter from pasture raised cows, and the magic of walnuts and hazelnuts mixed together in the perfect ratio for that je ne sais quoi deliciousness.
- Vegan – You can make them totally vegan by using your favorite cultured plant based butter!
- If there are 4 cookie recipes one must master and keep in their life is this one, the Ricciarelli, rosemary shortbread cookies + of course the fluffy ricotta cookies.
Recipe Tips
- Do not grease the cookies sheet before baking, these are butter cookies, already perfectly coated and won’t stick. You can use parchment paper to line the baking sheet if desired.
- Texture – If grinding the nuts yourself use a food processor and make sure to leave a little bit of texture. You don’t want nut flour, just ground nuts with a little rustic texture.
- Nuts – Feel free to replace the walnuts and hazelnuts in the recipe with an equal amount of ground pistachios or almonds, or a mixture of both.
- Extract – If a strong almond flavor is desires, simply replace the vanilla extract with almond extract.
- Powder Sugar – Make sure to coat your cookies while still warm so the sugar sticks nicely.
- Storage – Store your cookies at room temperature on the kitchen counter loosely covered with aluminum foil or in airtight containers. You could also freeze the dough balls if desired for baking at a later time. No need to thaw them out before baking.
5 from 8 votes
Italian Wedding Cookies Recipe
Easy and quick, this is the best Italian wedding cookies recipe. Packed with walnuts & hazelnuts then coated in powder sugar like a snowball.
Print Recipe
Prep Time:10 minutes mins
Cook Time:20 minutes mins
Total Time:30 minutes mins
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup salted butter organic
- 4 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup ground walnuts
- 3/4 cup ground hazelnuts
- 3 cup all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup powder sugar
- 1/2 cup powder sugar for dusting
US Customary - Metric
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 325”F.
In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter and 3/4 cup of the powder sugar until fluffy.
1 1/2 cup salted butter, 3/4 cup powder sugar
Add the vanilla extract and little by little the ground walnuts and hazelnuts. Mix until combined.
4 tsp vanilla extract, 3/4 cup ground walnuts, 3/4 cup ground hazelnuts
Start adding in the flour little by little until mixed in. ( For easier handling freeze or refrigerate the dough for 10 minutes or so)
3 cup all purpose flour
Prepare your largest cookie sheet and using a small spoon (or small ice-cream scoop) form the cookies into balls, the size of a golfball or smaller. You should have about 45 cookies.
Arrange all the cookies on the baking sheet without touching each other.
Bake the cookies in the preheated 325”F oven for 20 minutes.
Remove the wedding cookies from the oven and allow them to cool off for a few minutes before rolling them over in the reserved powder sugar. It's best that they are still a little bit warm so the sugar coating sticks nicely.
1/2 cup powder sugar for dusting
Arrange the cookies on a platter and dust with more powder sugar on top before serving.
Video
Notes
- Do not grease the cookies sheet before baking, these are butter cookies, already perfectly coated and won't stick. You can use parchment paper to line the baking sheet if desired.
- Texture - If grinding the nuts yourself use a food processor and make sure to leave a little bit of texture. You don't want nut flour, just ground nuts with a little rustic texture.
- Nuts - Feel free to replace the walnuts and hazelnuts in the recipe with an equal amount of ground pistachios or almonds, or a mixture of both.
- Extract - If a strong almond flavor is desires, simply replace the vanilla extract with almond extract.
- Powder Sugar - Make sure to coat your cookies while still warm so the sugar sticks nicely.
- Storage - Store your cookies at room temperature on the kitchen counter loosely covered with aluminum foil or in airtight containers. You could also freeze the dough balls if desired for baking at a later time. No need to thaw them out before baking.
- Vegan - the cookies can be made totally vegan by swapping the dairy butter with cultured plant based butter. You'll never know the difference!
Nutrition
Serving: 5g | Calories: 507.1kcal | Carbohydrates: 42.5g | Protein: 5.9g | Fat: 35.4g | Saturated Fat: 18.2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 14.7g | Cholesterol: 74.3mg | Sodium: 197.3mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 12.5g
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: Christmas cookies, Italian cookies, wedding cookies
Servings: 45 cookies
Calories: 507.1kcal
Author: Florentina
