Italian Peach Wedding Cookies Recipes

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 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.

ITALIAN PEACH WEDDING COOKIES

Steps:

• 1. Beat the eggs; add the oil, baking powder, cup of sugar and flour. Mix well then refrigerate overnight. Roll into balls a bit smaller than a walnut. Bake 15-18 minutes on ungreased cookie sheet. When cookies have cooled a little bit, scoop out a small hole in the middle of the flat side of the cookie (large enough to hold a cherry) while handling very gentle. Then finish cooling. Fill the hole and spread a little frosting on the flat side of the cookie with cream cheese frosting and then insert the cherry in the whole. Place another flat side of cookie ontop of the filled one. Use your finger to smooth the frosting all the way around where the two cookies are joined together. This will help keep the cookies from absorbing too much liquid when dipped in it. Mix vermouth and food coloring together. Dip cookies quickly. Roll in sugar and let sit for 10 minutes. Shake off excess sugar and then roll in sugar again. Use a squeeze tube or can of green frosting to add the stem and leaf. Place each into their own cupcake paper cup. Beautiful! Looks like a PERFECT PEACH with a surprise in the middle! Tip: Try to match up two cookies that are similar in size after baking before joining them together for more perfect looking peaches. I have even frozen these with good results. Just make sure you put a label on them if there is the possibility of a recovering alcoholic is amoung those being treated to these beautiful cookies.

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.