Totoro Family Recipes: Anginetti Cookies

I started this series of blog posts last fall. Our Nashville kids continued to request recipes for several Thanksgiving favorites, so I thought it might be more convenient to share them online.

This time of year is steeped in Totoro traditions, and I realized if I wanted to post all our holiday treats before the New Year, I needed to start immediately.

So from now until January, I will be posting our favorite Thanksgiving and Christmas recipes. This will also coordinate with my newest book, Italian Family Christmas, due to be released in November.

Today's recipe comes from my mother-in-law.

The first time I tried these delicate cookies I thought they were a play-on-words. Her name was Angie so I figured Anginettis was her signature recipe. It wasn't until last year I realized they are a traditional Italian cookie.

I remember Angie serving these at Easter, using pastel-colored icing to decorate the tops, but really these cookies are adaptable to any holiday celebration.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract (I used 1 teaspoon Penzeys Lemon Peel)
• 1/2 teaspoon orange extract (I used 1 teaspoon Penzeys Orange Peel)
• 3 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• Confectioner's Sugar (for icing)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream the butter and sugar until light.
3. Add eggs one at a time and beat until blended.
4. Add the extracts and Orange Juice (I rehydrated the peels in about 2 tablespoons of Orange Juice for about ten minutes before adding to the batter)
5. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients. Dough will be stiff and a little sticky.
6. Pinch off a small amount of dough and roll into a ball. Place on cookie sheet (I used Silicon baking mat)
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.
8. Let cool before icing (confectioners sugar, water, and food coloring)
9. Dip top of cooking into the icing. Let extra icing drip off.
10. Air dry on wire rack (with wax paper underneath to help with clean-up) before packaging.
11. Makes approximately 4 dozen cookies.

This post is part of BethFishReads Weekend Cooking Link Up. For more delicious recipes, please visit her weekly blog feature.