Italian Wedding Cookies
This recipe for Italian Wedding Cookies is the only one you’ll ever need!
Foolproof and delicious, this recipe uses just 6 ingredients to make wonderful, melt-in-your-mouth Italian cookies.
The name of these cookies, Italian Wedding Cookies, is a bit of a misnomer. By this, I mean the “Italian” part, not just the “wedding” part. Many countries have similar cookies. For example, Russian tea cakes with walnuts, Swedish or Mexican wedding cookies, Greek kourabiedes, and Austrian kipferin are all similar.
Why you’ll love this recipe
- These cookies are blissful – sugary, rich, and buttery. The texture is the absolute highlight of these almond shortbread cookies. One bite and you’ll be in love!
- Loaded with almonds and coated in sweet, powdery sugar, these are guaranteed crowd-pleasers and popular for all occasions, not just weddings. They are perfect for holidays, baby showers, bridal parties, and any time you want a buttery, nutty cookie.
- But let’s be practical here: you’ll want to make this cookie recipe because it’s so easy, and you can’t go wrong. If you’ve never made cookies from scratch, this is a great place to start. And if you love sweet, sugar-coated treats like cuccidati and Italian chocolate cookies then you’ll love these too!
For complete ingredient quantities and full instructions, please scroll to the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page.
Ingredients
- Salted Butter – good quality butter produces the best results.
- Granulated White Sugar – I like to use fine granulated white sugar, but regular works just as well.
- Brandy – just a little for flavor. Don’t worry about the alcohol content; it will cook off during baking. See below for substitutions.
- Flour – regular, all-purpose, plain flour is needed here. There is no need for rising agents or fancy flours.
- Almonds – use whole, unblanched almonds, which means with skins. These need to be toasted and coarsely ground. Pre-ground nuts won’t give the nutty crunch that makes these cookies so amazing! However, use pre-toasted nuts if you prefer.
- Powdered Sugar – also known as “confectioners” or sugar. The traditional white, sugary coating is what makes these sometimes called Almond Snowball Cookies. Looking at the photos, you can see why!
How to Make Italian Wedding Cookies
Preheat oven to 320ºF/160ºC. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Toast almonds for 5-10 minutes until fragrant and the skins crack. Cool, then chop coarsely in a food processor or crush in a bag with a rolling pin. Aim for a mix of fine and larger pieces.
- Beat together the softened butter, sugar, and brandy. I use an electric mixer. However, this mixture does not need much aeration, so a wooden spoon will also work. The butter and sugar must be lightened and creamy.
- Then, stir in the flour and chopped nuts. Use your hands to work the mixture until combined.
- Now roll scant tablespoons of dough (I have a little cookie scoop (ice cream scoop), which measures approximately 1½in/3.5cm across (size #60 or #70 cookie scoop) and place them on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes. The cookies will puff but shouldn’t color too much.
- When the cookies have almost cooled but still have a little bit of warmth, sift powdered sugar into a small bowl and roll the cookies in the sugar until well coated. Dust with more powdered sugar before serving.
Substitutions
- Almonds: Instead of all almonds, substitute walnuts or pecans. Or use hazelnuts instead of almonds—like these Baci di Dama. Try a combination of pecans, almonds, and pistachios.
- Salted butter: Use unsalted butter with 1/2 teaspoon of fine salt.
- Brandy: Omit the brandy and add a teaspoon of vanilla extract instead.
Variations
Earlier, I mentioned that variations of this recipe can be found around the globe. Many of the recipes vary the nuts or add spices and make other changes, but the basic recipe is the same – a sugar-coated, scrumptious butterball cookie! Here a some variations I sometimes use:
- Buttery: For a more buttery cookie, halve the quantity of almonds.
- Italian Butterball Cookies: Omit the nuts and replace them with an additional 1/4 – 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour.
- Cinnamony: Add a teaspoon of cinnamon or other spice that you enjoy.
Storage
Arrange in an airtight container with baking paper between the layers to prevent the cookies from sticking. When stored in this way, they will keep fresh for a week.
For longer storage, freeze the baked cookies in an airtight container with baking paper between the layers. Remember to dredge in extra powdered sugar before serving.
Tips for Success
- Ground almonds don’t work well for this recipe. Toasting and crushing the almonds produces the best result. The contrast of textures is one of the best characteristics of this almond melt-away cookie.
- Have the butter at room temperature so it creams well with the sugar. You want to make sure the butter and sugar combine perfectly. Otherwise, there’ll be pockets of cookie dough with lumps of butter. That’s not going to be good. Learn a good method for softening butter easily in my Easy Vanilla Cake recipe.
- Roll barely warm cookies in powdered sugar for best results. By barely warm, I mean almost fully cooled. The sugar will melt and clump into a sticky mess on a hot or warm cookie. Then, sieve extra powdered sugar over before serving for a perfect presentation.
- This recipe can be doubled or tripled with no change to the cooking time. This recipe can also be halved.
FAQ
Italian wedding cookies are made of butter, sugar, flour and almonds. They’re buttery, crumbly cookies that are popular during the holidays but also perfect for any occasion, such as birthdays, bridal showers, and afternoon teas.
These cookies are very similar, and both are buttery and tasty! The main difference is in the nuts used to make them. Italian Wedding Cookies use almonds, while the Mexican version uses either walnuts or pecans.
It is believed that these cookies originated in medieval Arabia and were introduced to Europe through expanding trade routes. Over time, countless countries adopted the concept, creating their own unique variations. Today, these cookies are enjoyed worldwide.
More Italian cookie recipes
Italian Chocolate Cookies – with two types of chocolate and the crunch of walnuts.
Savoiardi – sponge finger cookies that are perfect for tiramisu.
Cantuccini – everything you need to know to make almond biscotti.
Italian Peach Cookies – these look just like fresh peaches but taste like Italian heaven.
Italian Pignoli Cookies – simply delicious!
Made this recipe?
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Italian Wedding Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup (227 grams) salted butter at cool room temperature
- ½ cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar
- 1 tablespoon (15 mls) brandy
- ½ teaspoon almond extract optional
- 2 cups (250 grams) all purpose (plain) flour
- 1 cup (150 grams) whole almonds
- 1 cup powdered sugar for coating
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 320ºF/160ºC and line two baking sheets with non-stick baking paper
- Spread the almonds out onto a baking sheet and toast for 5-8 minutes. Take care not to burn them. Your nose will tell you when they are ready. Cool.
- Chop the almonds in a food processor but not until completely ground. There should be some larger chunks amongst the finely ground nuts. Set aside until needed.
- Beat butter, granulated white sugar, brandy and almond extract (if using) until well combined and creamy.
- Stir in flour and finely chopped almonds and mix with your fingers until well combined.
- Roll scant tablespoons of dough into balls (about the size of a small walnut) and place on the prepared baking sheet allowing a bit of room for spreading.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes until slightly puffed and pale golden.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring onto a wire rack to cool. Don’t coat with powdered sugar until they are cooled to barely warm otherwise the sugar will melt and end up a sticky mess. By barely warm, I mean almost fully cooled!
- Sift powdered sugar into a small bowl and roll cookies to coat. Store in an airtight container with baking paper between the layers.
- Before serving, dust with more powdered sugar for a snowy coating.
Notes
- Ground almonds don’t work as well for this recipe. Go to the effort of grinding or crushing the nuts yourself.
- Be sure to use softened butter – definitely not melted – just softened and at cool room temperature
- Don’t roll hot cookies in sugar. Wait until the cookies have cooled to barely warm otherwise you’ll end up in a sticky mess. By barely warm, I mean almost fully cooled.
Nutritional Estimate Per Serving
Nutritional Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. For accurate results, it is recommended that the nutritional information be calculated based on the ingredients and brands you use.
I’m a poor male trying to cook this, I could not find a way to print the recipe or the process, how do you do that Please!
Hi Greg, click on this link to take you directly to the recipe card https://www.marcellinaincucina.com/delicious-greek-kourabiedes/#recipe
There you will see the “Print” button to print the recipe, download the recipe or read the recipe directly from the recipe card. If you wish to cook directly from the website recipe card, click on the “Cook Mode” button under the ingredients which will prevent the screen from going dark. I hope this helps!
Super simple to make, delicious cookies and the texture is to die for!
Thanks for the great feedback, Sandra! We think so too!
Fabulous recipe
Thank you for the feedback, Carol!
Either the recipe, or the name of this cookie recipe should be changed. I made both the almond cookie, and the variation which omits the almonds. The almond cookies were very dense, and lacked the melt-in-your-mouth texture and flavor of the cookie I hoped to bake. Without almonds, the cookie was much more agreeable, which surprised me, because I was wary about removing a dry ingredient with no substitution (I actually added a bit more flour to be on the safe side, and I’m glad I did). cooling the cookies and rolling them in the sifted confectioner’s sugar when still a little warm made for a gooey coating, even after the second sieved sprinkling of the sugar. All in all this was a waste of my time and the expense of premium ingredients, made more disappointing by the fact that my purpose in making them was at the request of a friend who was in the hospital, and who dearly loves the traditional cookie. I’m sorry, I don’t like to leave poor reviews but it seems to be warranted here.
Mary, I’m so sorry to hear that the cookies didn’t turn out the way you wanted them to. As soon as I saw your comment, I retested the recipe (even though this is a recipe I have used for many years) and made a reduced almond variation as well. Both varieties turned out well with a nutty, buttery texture. The reduced almond variation was more buttery and melt in your mouth so I will add that in as an option but as it stands, this recipe, from my extensive testing works as it should. I’m thinking that your measurements were possibly a bit out which could have resulted in the texture that you didn’t like so I’ve added in weight measurements to hopefully avoid that problem again. The other thing could be that the almonds were ground too finely. Try leaving the almonds a little more coarse and also try reducing the almonds by half. This may be the result you are looking for.
I’m glad you enjoyed the nut free variation which, yes, do need a little extra flour. I will add that into the variations.
As far as coating in the confectioner’s sugar, I do state in the recipe that the cookies shouldn’t be hot, in fact they should be “barely warm”. That means hardly warm at all. I do mention that if the cookie is too warm, you’ll end up with a sticky mess.
Hopefully these suggestions help somewhat.
How do you maintain the shape?
The cookies were delicious however they quickly flattened out when they were baked. I attempted to keep them as balls for the second batch by coating the balls in ground almonds but they still spread out.
I’m sorry this happened to you, Marcia. My only thought is that the weather may be warm at the moment and the butter too soft. To solve this, chill the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes before forming the balls. Also, check the measurements are accurate. Butter too can be a culprit – less expensive butter can melt and not hold structure as well because the molecules have been changed due to melting in the processing stage.
Where in the recipe is the eight hour chilling time?
Hi Arlene, I’ve retested the recipe and found it not necessary to chill the dough so have removed it from the recipe. My apologies for the confusion.
What can you use instead of brandy
Hi Debbie, you could use sherry or if you prefer non alcoholic, try orange juice. Hope that helps!
A sugary, rich cookie that’s easy to make. Perfection. What a delightful treat. I can’t wait to serve these cookies to guests!
Oh yum, these were the perfect buttery cookies for some Friday night baking!
One of my favorites! So yummy!
These are my absolute favorite cookies! So delicious!
Perfection as always Marcellina! A great recipe.
Thank you, Megan!
These Italian wedding cookies were so delicious. So glad I gave them a try! I love that it only requires a handful of ingredients and were so simple to make. Thank you!
You’re welcome, Anaiah!
Yum! Those cookies look so delicious! Perfect for any occasion! Thanks for sharing
You’re welcome, Nora!
Such a beautiful and easy recipe with limited ingredients l. Loved it.
Yes, these are very simple to make, Sunrita!
Delicious cookies. Love the taste of almonds in these!
I love almonds too, Luca!
These almond shortbread cookies were delicious! So easy to make too! Everyone loved them! I will definitely be making them again!
So glad you enjoyed them, Jeri!
Yum! Such a delicious cookies. They remind me of my grandma, she used to make them. I’m going to give your recipe a try.
These are a fav in my family, too!
So delish! These remind me of my childhood. Thank you for sharing this recipe. Your instructions are so easy to follow!
Thank you, Seanna!
Such a delicious cookie so perfect to enjoy with a cup of coffee!
Excellent with coffee, Alexandra!