A traditional Italian treat, these tender, soft cookies are flavored with almond and a hint of lemon, enrobed in a vanilla almond glaze and dressed up with colorful sprinkles.
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silpats.
For the cookie dough:
In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs until the are light and foamy (this should take about 5 minutes). Set aside.
6 eggs
In another mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, powdered sugar and baking powder. Stir the oil, almond extract and vanilla extract into the flour mixture.
Gradually add the beaten eggs and continue to mix until a soft dough forms. The dough will be a little sticky, but you should be able to roll it into a ball without it adhering to your hands.
Roll the dough into 1" balls and place them about 2" apart on the prepared baking sheets.
Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or just until the edges begin to turn a light golden color.
For the glaze:
While the cookies are baking, combine the milk, almond extract and vanilla extract in a large bowl. Add the powdered sugar and whisk until the glaze is smooth.
As soon as the cookies are removed from oven, quickly immerse two or three at a time completely in the glaze. Remove with a slotted spoon or fork and place them on a wire rack to drain. Immediately top each cookie with sprinkles (do not wait or the glaze will begin to set and the sprinkles will not adhere to the cookie).
colored sprinkles or colored sprinkling sugar
Let the cookies dry on the rack for several hours (up to 24) before storing in an airtight container. The glaze should be completely dry with no sticky spots or any hint of moisture.
Notes
Make sure to roll the dough into very smooth balls, the smoother the dough is rolled, the less cracking there will be as the cookies bake.
Since the cookies need to be glazed while they are still hot, it is best to bake them off in smaller batches so you have time to get all of the cookies through the glaze before they cool.
The glaze recipe as written is very, very thin. When you dip a hot cookie into a thin glaze, the glaze melts and thins even more and becomes invisible on the cookies. When mom made these cookies the glaze was a clearly visible layer on the cookies. I found I needed ~6 cups of powdered sugar instead of the 3 3/4 cups listed to reach the consistency mom used. Because the glaze is thicker, more will cling to the cookies and you may need about 1 1/2 times the glaze recipe to coat all of the cookies