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Italian Sprinkle Cookies

by 4 Comments

Looking for another holiday cookie to test for Christmas/Thanksgiving, I came across these pretty little Italian Sprinkle Cookies. I’ve never been much of a sprinkles person, but these look so tempting.

These are simple cookies that are just delicious. They’re a little time consuming, but you’ll be happy with the result.

These are different to make, stepwise, and having your cooling rack, all of your cookie sheets and ingredients ready to go will help things go a little more smoothly.

As soon as they’re out of the oven, you plop them into the glaze. Then, one at a time you lift them out of the glaze with a fork, sliding the bottom of the cookie along the rim of the bowl to get the excess off.

Immediately sprinkle the sprinkles on the cookie, then proceed with the next one. The glaze hardens very quickly and if you don’t get the sprinkles on them immediately, they’ll roll right off of the cookie!

You’ll want to spray the wire cookie cooling rack because the warm glazed cookies tend to stick. I didn’t spray the rack with my first batch and they ended up with fingerprints on them from me trying to scoot them off the rack. I put dibs on the ones with the fingerprints so my husband wouldn’t have to eat them. I’m a good wife.

Here are some with a Christmas theme:

These Italian Sprinkle Cookies aren’t just pretty – they’re tasty too. Soft like a sugar cookie, but puffy, and subtly flavored with almond and orange. Be careful not to go overboard with the almond extract in the glaze. It can really overwhelm the tender little cookie.

These will be nice little holiday cookies and you can make them as festive as you want. They’re different from your standard sugar cookie – I think it’s the glaze that really completes the taste.

Get your favorite tea or coffee, a little pile of these excellent cookies, and enjoy!

Italian Sprinkle Cookies

Looking for More Delicious Holiday Cookie Recipes?

Italian Sprinkle Cookies

Italian Sprinkle Cookies

Yield: 3 dozen
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Chill the Dough: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 2 minutes

Soft, puffy, tender cookies with a hint of almond and orange. Very pretty!

Ingredients

  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 3/4 C all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 C powdered sugar
  • 1 tbsp plus 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 C vegetable or canola oil
  • 1 tsp almond extract
  • 1/8 tsp orange extract
  • 1/2 tsp grated orange zest
  • For the Glaze:
  • 1/3 C milk, room temperature
  • 1/4 tsp almond extract
  • 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 to 3 1/2 C powdered sugar
  • multicolored sprinkles

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set up a wire rack with waxed paper or aluminum foil under the rack to catch glaze drippings. Lightly spray the rack with cooking spray so the cookies won't stick to it.
  2. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs until they're light and slightly foamy, about 4 minutes. Pour in the vegetable oil , almond extract, orange extract, and orange zest. Set the bowl aside.
  3. In a stand mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, powdered sugar, and baking powder. Change to the paddle attachment and turn the mixer on low. Stream the egg mixture into the flour mixture and mix until fully combined. Dough will be slightly sticky. Refrigerate the batter for at least 30 minutes so it will firm up.
  4. Roll the dough into 1 1/2" balls, lightly flouring your hands if necessary, and place them on the prepared cookie sheet. Return the dough to the refrigerator while baking cookies.
  5. While the cookies are baking, prepare the glaze. In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, almond extract, and vanilla extract. Add the powdered sugar, starting at 3 cups and whisk all together. The glaze should be a bit thin (but not runny) so the cookies will glaze correctly.
  6. After the first batch of cookies is baked, remove them from the oven and carefully dump them two or three at a time into the glaze. Turn with a fork to cover the cookies completely, then place one on the wire rack.
  7. Immediately sprinkle with the sprinkles, then proceed with the second cookie and so on. Let the cookies cool on the wire rack for about 2 hours until the glaze completely sets, then store in a sealed container.

Notes

Tips and Stuff:

If you don't want to use orange extract in the cookies, just double the orange zest.  (Sometimes orange extract can be overwhelming)

Make sure and refrigerate the cookie dough, as it can be rather sticky.  Lightly flour your hands when you roll the dough into balls.

Be creative when using the sprinkles - green and red for the holidays, multicolored for birthdays, little pink heart sprinkles for Valentines.  These cookies are good any time of the year!

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 40 cookies Serving Size: 1 cookie
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 176Total Fat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 14mgSodium: 17mgCarbohydrates: 41gFiber: 0gSugar: 34gProtein: 1g

Nutrition Values are Approximate

© Susan Blades
Category: Cookies

How to Make a Confetti Cake

by 6 Comments

Everyone loves a festive cake and this Confetti Cake is definitely that! It’s easier to make than you’d think.

Among this month’s selections from The Perfect Cake by America’s Test Kitchen (#atkcake) is this three-layer Confetti Cake and I knew it was the one to make! It’s so colorful and festive, with little sprinkles inside and out. A perfect celebration cake.

I chose this three-layer cake because I wanted to practice my poor-to-nonexistent cake decorating skills. One day I’ll get that absolutely smooth finish so many other bakers get. This time, not so much.

The first hurdle in preparing for the bake was finding out that of my three 8-inch cake pans, one is actually only 71/2 inches! That’s what I get for buying a cheapo cake pan at the grocery store. I don’t recommend that.

No problem. I baked two of the cakes and then after they were turned out, baked the third. Only I didn’t get quite as much batter in the third so it was a little shorter and a bit lopsided. Again – no problem. I filled in the lopsided part with more frosting.

Everything considered, it came out fairly straight. (Now you’re looking back at the cut-cake photo above to see which layer was lopsided. It’s the bottom layer…)

The cake is unusual in that it uses 6 egg whites and no yolks. (I’ll be using those yolks in an upcoming homemade ice cream recipe…stay tuned). The texture is soft and spongy and the taste is quite delicious.

The buttercream frosting from the book is almost too buttery for me (if that’s possible), but it complimented the cake quite nicely. Be sure and mix the frosting until it’s nice and fluffy.

So, How Do I Make a Confetti Cake? 

  • Make a fantastic white/vanilla cake and stir in processed (in the food processor) rainbow-colored sprinkles. You’ll want them processed so you don’t have big, smeary color blobs in your cake. If you’re short on time, use a boxed cake.
  • Make your favorite vanilla buttercream frosting and frost the cake, smoothing the sides and top.  
  • Press in a layer of whole sprinkles about 1″ high around the bottom of the cake. Add some on top, too, if you’d like.
  • Celebrate and enjoy!
Confetti Cake

How to Make a Confetti Cake

Yield: 10 - 12 slices
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Additional Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours 45 minutes

Pretty and delicious celebration cake!

Ingredients

  • For The Cake:
  • 1 C whole milk, room temperature
  • 6 large egg whites, room temperature
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 1/4 C (9 oz) cake flour
  • 1 3/4 C (12 1/4 oz) sugar
  • 4 tsp baking power
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 12 tbsp butter, cut into 12 pieces and softened
  • 3/4 C rainbow sprinkles
  • For the Frosting:
  • 1 lb (4 sticks) butter, each stick cut into quarters and softened
  • 1/4 C plus 2 tbsp heavy cream
  • 1 tbsp plus 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 5 C powdered sugar
  • 4-6 drops yellow food coloring

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Spray three 8" round cake pans, line the bottom of each pan with parchment paper. Spray the parchment paper and lightly flour the pans.
  2. In a food processor, pulse 1/2 cup of sprinkles until coarsely ground, 8 to 10 pulses. Pour into a small bowl and set aside.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk the milk, egg whites, and vanilla together.
  4. In a stand mixer bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt on low speed until combined. Add the butter, 1 piece at a time until only pea-sized pieces remain, about 1 minute. Add all but 1/2 cup of the milk mixture and increase mixer speed to medium. Beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Reduce the mixer speed to medium-low and add the remaining 1/2 cup of the milk mixture. Beat until fully incorporated, about 30 seconds (batter may look a little curdled - that's OK, it'll smooth out later). Remove the bowl from the stand and stir a couple of times by hand. Stir in the ground sprinkles.
  5. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans and smooth the tops with the back of a large spoon. Bake until a toothpick comes out with just a few clinging crumbs (don't over bake), about 20-25 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking. Let the cakes cool in pans on a wire rack for about 10 minutes. Remove the cakes from the pans, discarding the parchment. Let cool completely on the wire rack (about 2 hours until room temperature to touch).
  6. Make the Frosting: In a stand mixer, beat butter, cream, vanilla, and salt on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Reduce the speed to medium-low and slowly add the powdered sugar. Add additional cream by the teaspoon to get desired spreading texture. Add a couple of drops of yellow food coloring into the frosting. Beat until ingredients are incorporated and smooth, 3-4 minutes.
  7. Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy, 4-5 minutes. If you make this early and refrigerate it to frost the cake later, let the frosting come to room temperature and then rewhip for a couple of minutes until frosting is fluffy again.
  8. Place 1 cake layer on your cake platter and spread about 3/4 cup of frosting evenly on top, right to the edge of the cake. Repeat with the second layer and 3/4 cup of frosting, pressing down lightly to adhere. Put the third layer on top and press down lightly. Use the remaining frosting to evenly cover the top and sides of the cake. Press the remaining sprinkles around the bottom of the cake.
  9. Refrigerate leftovers. Before serving refrigerated cake, bring cake to room temperature to soften the butter frosting.

Notes

Tips and Stuff:

It's very important that milk and egg whites are room temperature before adding.

The frosting is very buttery. If you refrigerate it, make totally sure you bring it back to room temperature before serving.

I added sprinkles to the top of my cake because it looked kind of naked without them, I thought. Knock yourself out and put them wherever you'd like.

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 468Total Fat: 17gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 35mgSodium: 298mgCarbohydrates: 76gFiber: 1gSugar: 55gProtein: 5g
© America's Test Kitchen
Category: Cakes