If you walk into any Italian American bakery you’ll be sure to find these Italian butter cookies, they’re also known as sprinkle cookies. They’re buttery, not too sweet with a shortbread like texture and they’re very classic and traditional.
They’re surprisingly easy to make, just a few ingredients and you can whip these up in no time, the most challenging thing is piping the cookies out, it takes a little practice, but once you get the hang of it, it goes fast.
I ordered both my piping bag and tips from Amazon. I use the large 16 inch disposable bags, they come in a pack with quite a few and very reasonably priced, and for the piping tip I used a large star tip Ateco 869, very reasonably priced as well.
As far as the shapes of these butter cookies the sky is the limit. You can do singles like I did, circles, thumbprint, you can do figure eights or arches or just sandwich two together using jelly or chocolate for the “glue”. Either way you can’t go wrong.
You’ll want to dip the tips into melted chocolate, you can use dark, white or milk, this will allow the sprinkles to stick and give you that characteristic Italian butter cookie look.
I chose a good quality white chocolate for these with pastel colored sprinkles for a springy, Easter look but believe me if you want to dip them in dark chocolate go right ahead. I made a big batch of the dark chocolate dipped ones last Christmas, with all different kinds of sprinkles and crushed nuts and gave them away as gifts.
They look pretty and festive for any occasion and they taste amazing because with just a few ingredients it’s imperative to not skimp on the quality of the butter, chocolate, eggs and vanilla that you use, it really does make a world of difference.
I prefer these homemade ones over anything store bought, so rich and delicious and they’re a heck of a lot cheaper per pound than any bakery I know!
The white chocolate with pastels screams spring, don’t you think?
Here’s a photo of the dark chocolate dipped ones I made last Christmas, I think my piping skills have improved a little since then!
- 1 cup of very good quality unsalted butter, room temperature, try a European one like Pulgra
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg and 1 egg yolk, large
- 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla not imitation
- 2¼ cups flour
- pinch of salt
- 1 to 2 tablespoons of cream if needed to pipe easier
- 12 oz. good quality white, dark or milk chocolate, not candy melts
- sprinkles of your choice
- The butter and eggs must be at room temperature.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a mixing bowl using a stand mixer or hand mixer cream the butter and sugar together until nice and fluffy.
- Add the eggs and vanilla until combined.
- Whisk together the salt and the flour then add to the butter mixture a little at a time on low speed until combined.
- If the dough seems too dry add the cream little by little, if too wet add a tiny bit more flour.
- Place dough into piping bag ( source in the post) I also use a tall glass to hold the bag while I'm filling it, leave enough room on top so the dough doesn't squish out.
- Start piping on your parchment, for the ones I made I they were about 2 inches long but and leave some space between for them to spread a little.
- Place the baking pan with the piped cookies into the fridge for ½ hour for better results before baking.
- Pre-heat oven to 350 and bake them 15-18 minutes with the bottom having a nice golden color.
- Cool COMPLETELY on a rack before dipping in chocolate.
- Melt the chocolate in the microwave in a small bowl, 30 second increments, I added a ¼ teaspoon of coconut oil to my chocolate for smoother and glossier texture.
- Dip one side of the cookie into the chocolate then over a bowl add the sprinkles and place the cookies back onto a clean baking pan with parchment.
- Put the pan into the fridge so the chocolate gets nice and hard and sets well.
- Stores well on the counter in a container with wax paper between them, they also freeze well for a month.