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With just a few simple ingredients, you’ll be able to make these bakery-style Italian Butter Cookies right at home. And for a real treat, you can make jam sandwiches out of them and dip them in chocolate!
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring/extract
- 1 large egg, brought to room temperature
- 1/2 cup raspberry or strawberry jam
- 4 ounces chocolate chips or chopped semisweet chocolate (melted)
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and salt and set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together using a hand or stand mixer at medium speed until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract (and almond extract, if using) and mix until it’s just incorporated.
- Slowly add the flour to the mixture and mix until a dough forms.
- Transfer the dough to a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Alternatively, you can pipe out the dough first and stick your baking sheets in the refrigerator!
- When you’re ready to bake the cookies, preheat oven to 350F and line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.
- Fit a pastry bag with the piping tip of your choice and fill the bag with the dough. If you’re using a cookie press, make sure to follow the manufacturer’s directions.
- Pipe the dough into 2-inch long segments, spacing each segment about an inch apart. Bake the cookies for 13-15 minutes, or until they are light golden brown on the edges.
- Cool the cookies on the sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Place your chocolate chips/chocolate into a microwaveable bowl and microwave it for 30 seconds at a time, making sure to stir the chocolate after each time. Once the chocolate is about 75% melted, remove the bowl from the microwave and stir the chocolate the rest of the way. The residual heat will do all of the legwork for you!
*If using, you’ll also want to pour your sprinkles out into a shallow bowl at this time. - Once the cookies have cooled, flip half of them over as they will be the bottom half of your cookie sandwiches. Pipe or spoon 1/4 teaspoon of preserves onto each half and sandwich them with the top halves.
- Dip the sandwiched cookies about 1/3 of the way into the melted chocolate, taking care to let the excess chocolate drip off. Drizzle the sprinkles over the chocolate and return the cookies to the baking sheet so they can set. You can also pop them into the fridge for about 5-10 minutes!
Notes
You can freeze the cookie dough if you like—just make sure to let it thaw overnight before baking. Cookies will remain fresh in an airtight container for a week.
Keywords: Italian Butter Cookies
