Recipes

6 Old-School Italian Christmas Cookies We Love

Give it up for the spritz.
Pinenut studded glutenfree cookies on a gold surface.
Alex Lau

From the pignoli to the butterball, these are 6 Italian Christmas cookies to bake all season long.

  • Image may contain Food Bread Cracker Biscuit Cookie Dessert Cake Icing Creme and Cream
    Alex Lau
    1/6

    Butter Spritz Cookies

    You can create a variety of shapes and colors with a cookie press. We love OXO’s cookie press for this recipe since it has sturdy metal plates and all the parts unscrew easily for cleaning.

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  • Image may contain Confectionery Food Sweets Breakfast Seasoning and Sesame
    Alex Lau
    2/6

    Butterballs

    Feel free to sub in an equal amount of another liquor, such as bourbon, for this cookies recipe, or omit completely if you’re serving these to kiddos.

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  • Pinenut studded glutenfree cookies on a gold surface.
    Alex Lau
    3/6

    Pignoli Cookies

    There is just no getting around the fact that almond paste is indispensable for these meringue-like cookies; it transforms their flavor and helps them brown evenly. Some brands sell in a tube; others will be in a can in the baking aisle. Using the tube is ideal since the canned might be looser, but either works for this recipe.

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  • This image may contain Confectionery Food Sweets Egg Bread and Bun
    Alex Lau
    4/6

    Anise Cookies

    We found that a couple cracks across the tops of these cookies were worth it in this recipe to ensure they are as light and moist as possible, but resting the portioned dough for the full hour helps minimize getting too many.

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  • Image may contain Food Confectionery Sweets Dessert Chocolate Animal Seafood Sea Life and Lobster
    Photograph by Laura Murray, food styling by Sue Li
    5/6

    Pizzettes

    The short bake time in this recipe isn’t a typo—these cookies should be moist and fudgy in the center, almost like a brownie.

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  • Alex Lau
    6/6

    Hermit Slices

    To ensure these don’t break, use a couple of layers of parchment paper or foil in the baking dish and make sure they’re completely cooled before removing them.

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