Traditional Italian Easter Cookies
Pupi cu L' ova - doll with an egg( Pupacalova)
One of our favorite Easter Traditions is making
the Italian Easter Cookies. We make these during Holy Week, give them to friends and neighbors, and then eat them for breakfast on Easter morning. These cookies are not too sweet and have many different symbols of Easter. The bread represents Christ- The Bread of Life
The Egg- New Life, and taking the egg out of the cookie, on Easter morning- the Resurrection.
My Nonna taught my mom and, then she taught me. Now I am teaching my children. We have
changed the recipe, just a bit, to give it a more buttery taste.
This is a fun recipe to make with the kids, young and old, in your home.
Italian Easter Cookies
375* 15-20min
10 C Flour
8 tsp Baking Powder
1 1/2 C Sugar
2 C Butter flavored Shortening
5 Eggs ( beaten)
The zest of one orange
The juice half of an orange
1 1/2 TBLSP Vanilla
1 tsp Almond Extract
Milk to moisten
Frosting:
2 Cup Powder Sugar
1 TBLSPN Vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
Juice of half of an orange
Sprinkles/Jelly Beans to decorated
1 dozen Hard boiled, colored eggs
Directions
Preheat oven to 375*
Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Add all dry ingredients into a large bowl
In a small bowl, beat eggs and add extracts. Add to dry ingredients and gently toss with a fork until mostly incorporated. Add orange zest and the juice of half of an orange. Add butter flavored vegetable shortening and using a pastry cutter,( or your hands) cut into dough. You will do this until it becomes crumbly and then almost doughy. Add milk, small splashes at a time, to form more of a solid dough. Finish mixing with your hands. You want the dough to be moist but not too sticky. Pie dough consistencing, without working it too much. ( It will become tough if overworked) Cover with Suran wrap and let sit, at room temperature, for one hour.
Lightly flour your working surface and taking 1/3 of the dough, roll dough about 1/4 inch thick. Using large cookie cutters, cut into Easter Egg, bunny or heart shapes. Using a small piece of dough, make a pad for the colored hard boiled egg. Cut the rolled dough into thin strips. Make a small cage, with the dough, around the egg. Use other strips and small cookie cutters to decorate cookie.
You may also make cookies without hard boiled eggs and decorate with dough as desired.
Bake cookies until golden brown. Place on cooling rack.
While cookies are baking, make the glaze/frosting.
Mix 2 cups of powdered sugar with extracts. Add a tsp, at a time, of milk. You will want a thing glaze to drizzle over the cookies.
Once cookies have cooled, drizzle glaze over cookies and decorate with colorful sprinkles and jellybeans. Refrigerate cookies with eggs.
Wonderful to eat on easter morning with a cup of coffee, tea or hot cocoa.
Enjoy !
Click the link below to watch the tutorial video.
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