Hi Guys, I'm Laura Vitale, and on this episode of Laura in the kitchen I want to share with
you a classic - it's an Italian butter cookie.
But I feel like it's a little different than your standard sort of sugar cookie.
It's just divine.
It has a couple of - I don't want to say weird ingredients, just not ingredients I guess
you would normally find in a sugar cookie.
But these are the Italian butter cookies that I grew up eating and let me tell you something,
it took an arm and a leg to get the recipe from my Nona because as you all know she's
the best cook in the world, but she doesn't measure.
So she goes oh lets use a little bit of this and a little bit of that and this is what
you got.
So to make them you will need a handful of really basic ingredients, but they're special.
Starting with some cake flour, cake flour is essential in this recipe.
I also have some salt, confectioners sugar, unsalted butter and vegetable shortening that
has been softened to room temperature, and egg, Vanilina, or you could use some vanilla
extract.
I have some Italian confetti.
You could use sprinkles, you could use nothing, it's completely up to you.
I make them this way with sprinkles or I make them black and white with ganache and white
chocolate which I can share with you in a different recipe.
But I wanted to make them basic for you today just to kind of get them done.
You want to get your oven preheated to 375.
Get a baking sheet and line it with parchment which I've done here.
Now, a sweet, sweet subscriber of mine, a while back, sent me parchment paper that was
already cut out.
So now it looks so perfect.
I can't believe it.
I'm just excited.
Another thing you want to do is get a piping bag or I'm using today just a large Ziploc
bag, and fit it with a star tip, large star tip.
Because we are going to need that to form our cookies.
And that's basically about it.
What I'm going to do now is take my cake flour and salt.
Now the mixture between the cake flour, the confectioners sugar, and the vegetable shortening
which traditionally - you may not like to hear this, but traditionally when I was a
kid my Nona always used lard instead of vegetable shortening.
I don't use lard, I use vegetable shortening instead, but you could certainly use that
if you wanted to.
I'm adding a little bit of Vanilina to this.
I am cutting the recipe in half today, simply because I don't want to make a huge batch
of cookies because I will eat them all.
So I want to make a smaller batch so that I can keep some for myself and give some away
for presents.
Okay, I shouldn't say presents, I should say treat.
In this large bowl I'm going to add in my butter, and my shortening, both at room temperature.
I'm just going to give them a smoosh.
I'm doing this in my bowl with my spatula.
I'm not bringing out my mixer today.
I'm just going to do this by hand because it's so easy.
I'm going to add in my confectioners sugar and I'm going to work that in really, really
well.
That gives you the most incredible texture for your cookies.
Totally essential for this type of cookie.
That looks good.
I'm adding in my egg,
I'm just going to continue to mix this with my spatula until it is well combined.
You could use a whisk if you wanted, but I'm going to put some elbow grease into this and
getting it going with my spatula.
Looks good!
Adding in my dry ingredients, and I'm just going to fold these in just until everything
is combined.
I don't want to work this too much because I don't want to end up with a really tough
cookie.
I want to keep them really lovely and light, and buttery, and delicious.
I'm just going to take - woops - going to mix that a little bit on the side.
Alright I'm going to take my cookie dough and put that into my little make-shift piping
bag which works really well.
I haven't purchased piping bags for a long time simply because.
Um, well, I forgot!
[laughing]
But I always have resalable little Ziploc bags, or whatever you want to call them.
So, it works.
Okay, kind of getting that dough all to one corner.
Lets see - yep - move this around, and then you just - you make little mounds like so.
You'll do a much prettier job than I did but lets face it I don't have any patience.
But these are going to look beautiful and taste wonderful.
And now you could use any sprinkles your heart desires.
I'm using the Italian confetti because it is an Italian butter cookie after all.
And I did get these when I went to Italy last year.
So, you can use absolutely any sprinkles you want or none at all.
You don't have to add anything to these.
But these are very springy, perfect for Easter, for kids, they taste amazing, so you could
put these on you Easter table and I guarantee you adults and kids will love them.
And they're pretty adorable aren't they?
These are looking good.
Pop these into the oven that has been preheated to 375F between 9 and 11 minutes or until
they are a beautiful lightly golden brown, let them cool a bit and then you are really
to serve.
That's it.
But I promise you it is the best butter cookie you'll ever put in your mouth.
I'm going to put my last earned dollar on that.
Because they are a childhood favorite after all.
So trust me when I tell you they're delicious.
My cookies were in the oven for exactly 10 minutes.
And if you do take your time and pipe them really pretty they will hold their shape a
lot better but I have no patience and I - listen - you're lucky they look this cute!
[laughing]
Um, anyways, they are fully cooled so I can go and just pick them right up.
Look at that.
They're just beautiful.
I'm going to go for this one right here.
Lets cut into them.
Lovely and crumbly.
Lets give it a go.
Okay, this is how I can describe these.
I don't know the name.
But work with me.
Do you remember, I don't know if at your house maybe your house when you were young - those
cookies that came in a blue tin, there were tons of different flavors of cookies in there.
Tell me you do.
They were in a blue tin like this.
Like an aluminum tin.
They come in a variety of different cookies and one of the cookies is like a butter - an
Italian butter cookie that looks kind of like this but prettier.
That's what these taste like.
This a like the identical version of those cookies.
Those were my favorite out of that pack - out of the combination of those cookies that came
in the container.
Please let me know if you know what I'm talking about and what the name of those cookie tins
are because I haven't been able to find them here in the states in years.
And I would love to remember what they were called.
But anyway this is what these taste like.
So if you love those, then you will absolutely love this recipe.
It is right on up there with the best butter cookies I've ever eaten.
And these are definitely those from my childhood that I absolutely love.
I hope that you've enjoyed spending time with me.
LauraintheKitchen.com will have the recipe for you and I will see you next time.
Bye Bye!