Looking for something to bake to have at tea time? Learn more about Italian Easter cookies and how easy they are to make.
One of the good things about the Easter celebrations in Italy is the tasty food that you get to eat. The Italians’ love for food is no secret and when it comes to celebrating holidays there is nothing more appropriate than doing some excellent cooking to tantalize the taste buds. Over the years the country has developed a formalized holiday cuisine that is specific to each holiday. The Easter cuisine is amongst the most rich and vibrant holiday cuisines from the country both in terms of taste and color. The Easter holiday cuisine sure captures the festive spirit on high of the Italians.
The cuisine for the day consists of many different items ranging from main courses to appetizers and tea time delights. Amongst the various Italian specialties of the day are Italian Easter cookies. These cookies are so unique that they are now held in high esteem all around the world. Not only has the recipe been exported to other Christian countries even non-Christians love to take a bite of these cookies. You will be amazed to see that there is an extensive regional diversity in the recipes that you will be able to find for the Italian Easter cookies but the basics remain the same throughout.
Making Italian Easter cookies
Before we start I would like to mention that you have the choice of icing the cookies with nice beautiful festive colors after they are done to make them look good. If you are solely interested in how they taste then lets just move on with the basics of the treat. As for the ingredients you will need all the standard cookie making items that are used all around the world with the exception of a few additional ingredients that are peculiar to Italian traditions. Butter, sugar, eggs, milk, flour, baking powder, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, almond extract and coloring which is optional are the basic ingredients used in the making of Italian Easter cookies.
You should start off by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. Next take out your cookie sheets and adequately grease them out. Take out a large bowl and add the sugar and butter to mix it to become light and fluffy. After this you will be required to beat in the eggs into the mixture. But this should be done one by one. Once this has been done you should add the vanilla and almond extract along with the milk and oil. Then you should combine the flour with the baking powder and add them to the wet mixture. Once the dough has been formed roll them into 1 inch balls. Roll the balls out into long 5 inch ropes on a lightly floured surface. Tie them into loose knots and place the cookies one inch away from each other.
Next up is the initial baking process which will require you to place them in the oven for five minutes on the top shelf and then five minutes on the bottom. Your cookies should now be golden brown in color. Once the cookies have cooled down you can dip them into the icing and enjoy.
