Anginetti

As I’ve mentioned previously in this blog: I am addicted to bread. We will return to this thought in a moment.

My Mom participates in an annual cookie exchange every Christmas season. Each participant is responsible for bringing 7 dozen cookies to swap with the other attendees. There has been some delicious bounty brought back from these evenings over the years which has definitely set the bar high.

This year, my Mom requested that I make a recipe that I had first tried out in the fall. Italian Lemon drop cookies or Anginetti are a traditional Italian cookie that I tasted a couple of years ago. Traditionally lemon flavored, these cookies are tender to the bite but still have a bread-like consistency to them (Thus the opening line of this post). The cookie itself is not overly sweet or flavored, that’s where the icing steps in. The icing brings an edge of sweetness and extra lemon flavor that really ties the whole cookie together. But I was hesitant if I should post my thoughts on this during the Christmas season. This hesitation was put to rest after discovering on the internet that this Italian cookie is often served during the Christmas season, and the summer, and family gatherings… Well you catch my drift: these cookies are a good idea all year round.

I was tempted from my first taste to try different flavor combinations with the Anginetti batter. The first possibilities that came to mind were lime, and raspberry. So, this time, I decided to make the classic lemon for my Mom and experiment a little with lime for me (Due to my failure in finding raspberry extract. Call me crazy but I swear I’ve seen it before!). I was extremely pleased with the way that my lime variation turned out! So flavorful and just really good : I would definitely make them again. All I did was just switch out the portions that I had used in lemon for that of lime. I also liked that the cookies can be easily distinguished by the flecks of lime peel in the cookie. You could also tint the lime icing pale green to make them easy to differentiate from their lemon counterparts on a serving tray.