Italian Lemon Drop Cookies (Anginetti)

I love the delicate flavor of lemon cookies. Usually I make some variation of a lemon sugar cookie, doused with a generous sprinkling of powdered sugar. Today though, in the spirit of going international, I searched the World Wide Web for a cookie from abroad. Well, first I considered making my standard lemon cookie and calling it a “British tea cookie”, but then decided to see what other variations I could find on the World Wide Web. It came down to a cardamom lemon cookie from Norway or this Italian drop cookie. I think the glaze won me over. 

I’ve never had Anginetti before, but this recipe seemed to be a standard one that was on many sites. I am working my way through the friendly neighborhood lemons, so I left out the lemon extract in favor of lemon zest and freshly squeezed juice. I doubled the recipe – the majority will be going with my husband to his office tomorrow – and came out with 45 cookies. There probably would have been a couple more if I didn’t have a penchant for eating cookie dough. Oh, and I cut the eggs down because the price of eggs has more than doubled this year in California. If you are in a less animal friendly state that hasn’t experienced this price increase, by all means use three eggs rather than two. 

 Anginetti Cookie

1/2 c sugar   

1/4 c shortening 

2 eggs  

1 T loosely packed lemon zest  

1 T lemon juice  

2 c all purpose flour  

1/8 t salt  

1/2 T baking powder 

Lemon Glaze 

2 c powdered sugar 

1/2 T lemon zest 

2 T lemon juice 

1 T water 

Cream sugar and shortening. Add eggs and lemon zest and juice and mix. Add dry ingredients and mix.

Drop dough by spoonful onto lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake 12-15 minutes, in oven preheated at 350 degrees F, until lightly brown. Let cool and remove from cookie sheet.

Mix glaze ingredients and spread over cooled cookies.



These cookies rise beautifully but don’t spread much, so you can fit a lot on a cookie sheet. I used this opportunity to try out a Silpat liner I got for Christmas (not pictured), and loved how easy the cookes were to remove, no cleanup required. The glaze makes this ugly duckling of a cookie aesthetically and gastronomically. 



bon appetite.