🎄🍪 Italian Christmas Cookies
Sweet, buttery, tender, and beautifully festive, these classic Italian Christmas Cookies are a must-have for the holiday cookie tray. The soft almond-scented cookies are baked until lightly golden, then finished with a simple vanilla-almond glaze and colorful sprinkles.
They’re wonderful for Christmas parties, cookie exchanges, gifting, or enjoying with a hot cup of coffee.
⏱️ Recipe Information
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Chill Time: 30 minutes
Bake Time: 10–12 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 7 minutes
Yield: About 36–42 cookies
Difficulty: Easy
Method: Baked
🛒 Ingredients
For the Cookies
- 1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 3 tablespoons whole milk
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2¾ cups (345 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
For the Glaze
- 2 cups (240 g) powdered sugar
- 2–3 tablespoons whole milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract, optional
For Decorating
- Holiday sprinkles, as needed
- Red, green, white, or multicolored nonpareils
- Optional: colored sugar or festive sanding sugar
👩🍳 Instructions
1. Prepare the Dough
In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened butter and granulated sugar with an electric mixer for 2–3 minutes, until light, fluffy, and creamy.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
2. Add the Eggs
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add the milk and almond extract and mix until combined.
The mixture may look slightly curdled at this stage—this is perfectly fine.
3. Add the Dry Ingredients
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture.
Mix on low speed just until a soft dough forms.
Do not overmix. Stop as soon as there are no visible streaks of flour.
4. Chill the Dough
Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for approximately 30 minutes.
Chilling makes the soft dough easier to handle and helps the cookies maintain their shape while baking.
5. Shape the Cookies
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Using a small cookie scoop or tablespoon, portion the dough into small balls, approximately 1 inch wide.
Place them on the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches of space between each cookie.
For a more traditional Italian cookie shape, you can gently roll the dough into small logs or ovals.
6. Bake
Bake for 10–12 minutes, or until the cookies are set and the bottoms are just lightly golden.
The tops should remain relatively pale.
Do not overbake. These cookies are meant to be soft and tender rather than crisp.
Allow them to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
🍬 Make the Glaze
7. Prepare the Icing
Place the powdered sugar in a medium bowl.
Add 2 tablespoons milk, vanilla extract, and almond extract if using.
Whisk until smooth.
If the glaze is too thick, add a few drops of milk at a time.
If it becomes too thin, add a little more powdered sugar.
The ideal consistency should be thick enough to coat the tops of the cookies but still slowly drip from a spoon.
8. Glaze the Cookies
Once the cookies are completely cool, dip the tops into the glaze.
Let the excess icing drip back into the bowl.
Place the glazed cookies on a wire rack or parchment paper.
9. Add the Sprinkles
Immediately decorate with holiday sprinkles while the glaze is still wet.
Allow the cookies to sit uncovered for 1–2 hours, or until the icing has completely set.
For the neatest presentation, avoid stacking them until the glaze is fully hardened.
⭐ Chef’s Tips
Use room-temperature ingredients: Soft butter and room-temperature eggs blend more evenly and create a smoother dough.
Don’t overbake: Italian Christmas cookies should remain soft and tender. Take them out as soon as they’re set and just beginning to color underneath.
Chill the dough: The dough is naturally soft. A short chill makes shaping much easier.
Use almond extract: This is what gives these cookies their distinctive Italian bakery-style flavor.
Cool completely before glazing: Warm cookies will cause the icing to melt and slide off.
Decorate immediately: Add sprinkles while the glaze is wet so they stick securely.
🎄 Easy Variations
Lemon Italian Cookies
Replace the almond extract with 1 teaspoon lemon extract and add 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest to the dough.
Orange Almond Cookies
Add 1 teaspoon orange zest to the dough for a bright citrus flavor.
Anise Italian Cookies
Replace the almond extract with 1 teaspoon anise extract for a traditional Italian bakery flavor.
Chocolate-Dipped Italian Cookies
Allow the glaze to set, then dip half of each cookie into melted semisweet or white chocolate.
Holiday Sprinkle Cookies
Use different sprinkle colors for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, birthdays, or other celebrations.
🎁 Gifting & Christmas Cookie Tray
These cookies are perfect for holiday gifting.
Arrange them in:
- Christmas cookie tins
- Cellophane bags tied with ribbon
- Decorative holiday boxes
- Cookie exchange trays
For a beautiful cookie platter, pair them with gingerbread cookies, biscotti, snowball cookies, butter cookies, and chocolate crinkle cookies.
🧊 Storage
Store completely cooled and glazed cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Place parchment or wax paper between layers if stacking them.
For the best texture, keep the container tightly sealed.
❄️ Freezing
Freeze the Baked Cookies
Freeze completely cooled, undecorated cookies in an airtight freezer-safe container for up to 2 months.
Thaw at room temperature, then glaze and decorate.
Freeze the Dough
Shape the dough into portions and freeze on a parchment-lined tray until firm.
Transfer to a freezer bag and freeze for up to 2 months.
Thaw the dough overnight in the refrigerator before shaping and baking.
🎄🍪 Final Result
These Italian Christmas Cookies are soft, buttery, delicately sweet, and filled with that unmistakable almond-kissed flavor.
The smooth white glaze and colorful holiday sprinkles give them the classic festive appearance that makes them perfect for a Christmas cookie tray.
Soft, sweet, buttery, and beautifully festive—these are the kind of cookies everyone reaches for first! 🎄🍪✨