We are obsessed with these adorable Italian Wedding Cookies. They are soft, buttery, and perfectly sweet with a delicate almond flavor and glossy icing. Whether you're making them for weddings, Christmas cookie trays, Easter dessert tables, or Sunday family dinners, these old-fashioned Italian cookies are always a crowd favorite.
Why This Recipe is the Best
Italian wedding cookies are traditionally made with rainbow nonpareils. We wanted a more elegant look for ours, so we used white sprinkles. You could use silver, gold, or a color that matches your wedding colors.
For more Italian Cookie variations, try our Italian Christmas Cookies, Italian Easter Cookies, and our Traditional Italian Cookies.
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Key Ingredients
Don't miss out on our ingredients tips to get that just right texture and soft center.
- Powdered Sugar- The powdered sugar in the dough gives them an almost melt-in-your-mouth texture.
- Almond Extract- For a traditional taste, you need to use almond extract! It's a lot more versatile to have in your cupboard than anise extract. If you aren't a fan, replace with vanilla extract instead.
- Eggs - Eggs help make these cookies extra soft and cake-like compared to Mexican wedding cookies or Russian tea cakes. Let them sit on the counter for 30 minutes before mixing in.
- Butter- Use just soft-to-the-touch butter. You don't want the butter too soft, or the cookies will spread.
How to make Italian Wedding Cookies
Use these step-by-step instructions as a guide to get the best results. You'll love this traditional recipe.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients.
- Beat the softened butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, almond extract, and vanilla and beat until smooth and airy.
- Add the flour, powdered sugar, baking powder, and salt and mix just until incorporated.
- Scoop small dough balls onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until the tops are matte and the edges are set.
- While the cookies bake, whisk together the frosting.
- Once cooled, dip the cookies into the glaze and decorate with sprinkles.
Helpful Hint: Top with sprinkles about 10-15 seconds after you dip the cookies in the frosting, so they stick to the frosting well and don't slide off.
Common Mistakes
Remember that this dough is intentionally wetter and softer than traditional cookie dough. When we tested these, adding extra flour made them dry and crumbly instead of soft and tender.
Be sure not to make the dough balls too big. These cookies will grow and spread when baking, and you don't want them to be oversized.
Top tip
For the best look, wait about 10-15 seconds after glazing before adding the sprinkles. This keeps them from sliding right off the icing.
Recipe
Italian Wedding Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies:
- ¾ cup salted butter softened
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 3 eggs
- 2 teaspoons almond extract for a more traditional flavor, use anise extract instead.
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups all purpose flour fluff flour before measuring
- 1 Tablespoon baking powdered
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 1 pinch salt
Icing:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2-3 Tablespoons milk hot, I used whole
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- sprinkles of choice, I used white see note 1
Instructions
Cookies:
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Place softened butter and granulated sugar in a mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on medium high until lightened in color and fluffy. Add one egg and beat until incorporated. Add the remaining 2 eggs and the almond and vanilla extracts and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.
- Place flour on top of wet ingredients. Make a small well at the top and measure in the powdered sugar, baking powder and salt. Fluff together a bit with your fingers to prevent clumps of any of those ingredients. Mix on low just until incorporated. See note 2, this is a wetter dough than a traditional cookie.
- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Use a small cookie dough scoop or a spoon to make dough balls about 1-1.5 Tablespoons big (these grow a ton, see note 3). Roll into balls and place on the parchment lined baking sheets, about 1-1.5 inches of space between each one. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges have set and the tops are matte. Move to a wire rack to cool completely.
Icing and Assembly:
- While the cookies cool, make the icing by placing the powdered sugar, 2 Tablespoons of the hot milk and almond extract into a bowl. Mix until smooth and glossy and no powdered sugar lumps remain. Add more milk until it reaches the desired consistency. See photos above for a reference.
- Dunk cookies in the icing upside down, swirl around to remove excess icing then move back to the parchment paper. Add sprinkles about 10-15 seconds after dipping in the glaze. Allow to set up then serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Traditional Italian wedding cookies are often made with rainbow nonpareils. I wanted a more elegant look with these so I added white sprinkles and I love the way they turned out. You can make them with sprinkles in your wedding color(s) too.
- This dough is much wetter than a normal cookie dough. The first time I made these I thought the dough was too wet and added too much flour and they turned out dry and crumbly. Trust the recipe on this one.
- These cookies grow a ton in the oven. Be careful not to make your dough balls too big. Italian cookies aren't supposed to be very big.
Nutrition
Variations and Substitutions
These easy Italian wedding cookies are simple to customize.
- Anise Extract-Use anise extract instead of almond for a more traditional flavor.
- Lemon- Add lemon extract or lemon zest for a bright citrus twist.
- Traditional- Use rainbow sprinkles for a classic bakery-style Italian wedding cookie look.
- Elegant-Use white sprinkles for elegant wedding cookies or pastel sprinkles for Easter.
- Skip the sprinkles entirely for a simple old-fashioned cookie.
- Nuts- This recipe is made without nuts, but you can add coarsely chopped nuts.
Storing
Store Italian wedding cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. For longer storage, refrigerate for up to 1 week.
Freezing
These cookies freeze beautifully! Freeze the cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 months. For best results, freeze before glazing and decorate after thawing.
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