Italian Christmas cookie recipes: sweet holiday treats

Christmas is a great time to indulge. It’s an opportunity to eat a few more sweet treats than usual, without feeling guilty.

However, once you start looking at the array of Italian Christmas cookie recipes available, you may be unsure of which direction you should proceed. It’s difficult to try all the different varieties in one go!

After all, every region has at least one, and generally several Italian cookie recipes for Christmas. It’s never too soon to start trying the different options. It’s not essential, but before you start it’s advisable to boost your understanding of liquor pairing. For every one of the available delicious Italian Christmas cookie recipes, there is a perfect liquor accompaniment.

Italian Christmas cookie names

Italians are famous for having sweet tooths. That’s why there are so many Italian Christmas cookie recipes.

The best-known ones are:

These cookies are more like a French dessert. They are made with light flaky pastry, stuffed with fruit. The fruit is sourced locally, making this cookie an elegant and worthy option for all tourists and locals. You may like to pair this with Maraschino from the Veneto region. It’s distilled from cherries and has a delightful, lightly sweet, taste.

This cookie is a mixture of chocolate, pistachios and cranberries. You simply use a box of cake mix, add chocolate syrup and even drizzle the completed cookies with white chocolate. The recipe involves using flour, melted butter, chocolate syrup and several large eggs. Getting them right is mainly a result of trial and error. It is important to mix everything together and then split the dough in half before making two cookie logs.

Only after the log has cooled for 20 minutes, can you cut the log into cookies and either freeze them or store them for the next opportunity to entertain in the house. Your new cookies can be drizzled with anything, but the icing is an excellent choice and enhances the flavors.

Pair it with Amaretto to really bring out the flavor!

Canestrelli

These are usually flower-shaped and will melt in your mouth. They originate from the Liguria e Piemonte region and are very simple. Combine flour, butter, starch, icing sugar, boiled egg yolks and lemon zest. Once cooked, dust them with icing sugar and pair them with some classic limoncello.

You’ll want it to be Christmas every day!

Baci Di Dama

These are a great Christmas treat and small enough that you can indulge in several. They are buttery cookies, similar to shortbread. It’s normal to have two cookies sandwiched together with a layer of chocolate hazelnut. These pair surprisingly well with Amaretto. You can also try them with Disaronno. Its almond flavour, enhanced with hints of vanilla and orange, blends perfectly against the chocolate and hazelnuts.

Fig Christmas Cookies

These cookies have a buttery dough that crumbles as you bite into it. Inside is a rich fig filling. The top is usually dusted with icing sugar or decorated with frosting. Try the Christmas fig cookie with Nocino. This is a slightly bitter liqueur made from green walnuts. Its nutty flavor works perfectly with the fig filling.

Lemon Biscotti

Unsurprisingly, these biscotti have a delightful infusion of lemon. They are also stuffed full of almonds and pistachios. You can pair them with limoncello or try them with amaretto for a different, but delightful, experience.

Summing Up

This is just a small selection of Italian cookies available for you to enjoy. You can prepare the cookies yourself or keep them authentic and purchase them through us. Paired with the right liqueur these cookies will become an essential part of the festive season!