Italian Drop Cookie (Recipe)

Hudson Valley Digital Account Executive Jeanna Martinelli shares her classic Italian cookie recipe, perfect for the holidays

My Nonnie and I make these every year especially for Christmas. You can change up the sprinkles on the icing to reflect the occasion.

Italian Drop Cookies

For the cookie:

  • 5 eggs
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup Crisco vegetable oil
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla
  • 1 tsp pure lemon extract
  • 1 tsp pure almond extract
  • 5 cups flour
  • Pinch of salt
  • 5 tsp baking powder
  • ¼ cup milk
  1. Beat together eggs and sugar.
  2. Add Crisco, vanilla, lemon, and almond extract. Beat well.
  3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking powder.
  4. Add to the wet ingredients and add milk; beat until mixed well.
  5. Using a standard tablespoon, drop batter onto a greased cookie sheet, keeping two inches in between each. (Cookies will puff up when baked.)
  6. Bake at 350° for approximately 10-15 minutes, or until cookies are puffed.
  7. Let cool completely; see below for icing instructions.
italian drop cookies italian drop cookies

Classic Italian drop cookies with frosting and sprinkles (left), and tins of the 13 Christmas cookies Jeanna and Nonnie bake every year (right). Jeanna says, “I seriously make somewhere around 1,000 cookies!”

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For the icing:

  • 1 bag powdered sugar
  • Milk
  • Less than 1 tsp of pure lemon extract
  1. In a medium-sized bowl, slowly add milk to powdered sugar until you reach desired consistency for icing. You don’t want the icing to be too thick, and too thin will cause it to run off the cookie.
  2. Add lemon extract and stir.
  3. Dip each cooled cookie into the icing, and brush off excess using a baking brush. 
  4. While icing is still wet, add sprinkles.
  5. Allow cookies sit several hours (preferably overnight) so icing may dry.

Enjoy!

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