Italian Peach Cookies Recipe 415

ITALIAN PEACH COOKIE RECIPE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C. Line 3 large baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
• With an electric mix or hand held whisk, beat eggs and sugar until pale and thick approx 10 minutes.
• Whisk in cooled, melted butter, lemon zest and vanilla extract. Continue to whisk until thick and creamy mixture.
• Sift the flour, baking powder and salt and gently stir into the egg mixture. Followed by milk.
• Take a small amount of dough and roll into a ball. The size should be a little smaller than a walnut (approx ¾oz/20g). I have a little cookie scoop (ice cream scoop) which measures approx 1½in/3.5cm across (size #60 or #70 cookie scoop). This ensure even size balls. Make 52 little dough balls and place them onto the lined baking tray allowing a little room for spreading.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes. The cookies will be pale and are meant to be soft. Remove from the oven and leave to cool down a little bit.
• While still warm use a small knife or teaspoon to make a small hole in the bottom of the cookie. Use in another recipe like rum ball or truffles or crumble and sprinkle over ice cream.
• Fill each indent with pastry cream one then join the two halves together.
• Dip each peach into Alkermes liqueur. Drain on a wire rack for a few minutes to allow the liqueur to soak in. Then roll in granulated sugar.
• Place the peaches in cupcake cases and put them in the fridge for at least 12 hours before serving. They will soften beautifully.

PESCHE - ITALIAN PEACH WEDDING COOKIES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°.
• Lightly grease cookie sheets.
• Mix together sugar, eggs and oil. Add flour and baking powder.
• Form 1" balls (cookies should be "flat" on the bottom where they rest on the cookie sheet) and bake about 10-15 minutes (until lightly browned on the bottom).
• While still warm, take a small pointed knife and scoop out a pocket on the flat side of each cookie.
• Fill with preserves & spread a small amount on the flat sides as you join 2 cookies together to form the peach.
• Color the brandy with a little food coloring & dip the peaches to give them a "blush".
• Then roll the peach in granulated sugar.
• You may garnish with artificial leaves for presentation.
• **Variation--if you have the time to make these lovely cookies on the actual day that they will be eaten, you may fill the pockets with pastry cream, and then seal the two halves together with melted dark chocolate!

ITALIAN PEACH COOKIES RECIPE - (4.1/5)

Steps:

• For the cookies, first preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the eggs and sugar in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until light, about 3 minutes. Add the oil and beat until creamy, then mix in the milk and vanilla. Mix the flour with the baking powder and salt, then add this to the batter and beat just until it is combined. Take a small amount of batter in your hands, and roll into a ball about 1 1/2 inches for large, 3/4 of an inch for the small sized cookies and place these on the baking sheets. Continue to roll out all of the batter into balls, and then bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until very light brown on the bottom. Cool well. For the filling, use a sharp knife, and cut out a circle at the bottom of the cookie removing the cookie centers and placing these in a bowl. Be careful not to cut completely through the cookies, but you need to make space for the filling. Once you have cut the bottom of each cookie, break up the cookie pieces you have cut out into fine crumbs. Add enough of the peach jam to the cookie crumbs until you have a sticky filling. Carefully fill each cookie, and then matching cookies or shape and size, place two cookies together, using the peach mixture as glue to hold the cookies together. Clean any peach jam that may ooze from the seams. To decorate, place about 1/2 cup of the peach liqueur in two separate bowls, and color one yellow and the other red. In a third bowl, place the super fine sugar. (I found the cookies worked better if the colors were fairly strong.) Carefully dip each cookie pair into the red mixture first 3/4 of the way up the cookie, then dip the other end in the yell mixture. I found that if I then dipped the yellow end briefly in the red liquid it created a more natural looking color. Gently blot the cookie with paper towels to remove most of the liquid, then immediately roll the cookie in the sugar. Place the finished cookie on a sheet of waxed paper to dry and continue to color the rest of the cookies in the same manner. Once the cookies have dried, you can insert a couple of mint leaves and a whole clove to resemble a peach.

PESCHE - ITALIAN PEACHES COOKIES

Steps:

• No need for a mixer - just cream butter and sugar with a wooden spoon, add eggs, continue to cream and then add lemon juice. Add almond extract (the amount is negotiable, and I tend to add a little bit more because I like mine very almondy). Combine baking powder with 3 cups of flour and add to slowly to creamed ingredients -- mix only with your hands! Add the rest of the flour until dough is not sticky. It takes some practice to get the texture perfect. You may have to add a little more flour to get it just right. You do not want it to be too greasy as the cookies will not rise well.
• Roll cookies into balls with about 1 tbsp worth of dough. Bake cookies at 325 degrees for 15-20 minutes -- watch until start to turn golden. Let cookies cool fully (sometimes I cook them the night before and let them sit out to dry). When cool, carve insides out to make room for pudding.
• Make two bowls of water and vanilla extract. Add yellow food coloring to one and red and yellow to other. Add just a few drops as you just want a light coloring. Have another small bowl of sugar ready for dipping.
• Fill one cookie with chocolate pudding and one with vanilla pudding and stick together. Dip "peach" half way into one colored water and then walf into the other. Sprinkle or dip in sugar (don't go overboard on sugar, you just need a little sprinkle as a finishing touch). Put in cupcake paper and freeze immediately. Take out and that when needed.