7-Layer Italian Cookies--Perfect for Showers and Wedding Sweet Tables

Photo courtesy of: http://myitaliangrandmother.blogspot.com/

What Italian wedding or shower would be complete without these beautiful cookies?  Although they take some time to make, the patience is well worth it in the end.  This recipe is from a fellow blogger, Michele at her great blog, My Italian Grandmother, where she shares great recipes with you.  Take the time to browse her blog for other great food ideas.

Rosemarie's 7-Layer Cookies

1 ¼ cup flour
3 eggs (large)
1 cup sugar
3 teaspoons almond extract
2 sticks (melted butter)
1 jar apricot butter or preserves or seedless raspberry preserves
6 oz. bag of semi sweet chocolate morsels
1 tablespoon of oil
Red and green food coloring

3 pans 11x7x1 ½ or approximate size

Mix in bowl with electric mixer (if desired), flour, sugar, almond extract,
eggs, melted butter. Separate into 3 bowls evenly. After which you leave one bowl plain, in 2nd bowl add 8 drops of red and the last bowl add 8 drops of green coloring. Then in greased pans (or parchment lined pans) pour mixture so it covers all of the pan evenly. Bake for 10 minutes at 350.  Remove from oven, on wax paper on foil, first turn over green layer, coat lightly with apricot, then white layer over that and coat with preserve. Last red layer melt chocolate in pot with 1 tablespoon of oil. Coat one layer with chocolate, refrigerate until hard then turn over wax paper or foil. Coat second layer, let it get hard then cut and slice.

Enjoy!  Share with your friends and family!

Nirvana Attained!

NIRVANA!

All photos and linked recipe courtesy of Colette at My Computer is My Canvas on Blogspot.com

These look soooo good right? And hidden inside these chocolate nuggets of goodness is raw chocolate chip cookie dough!  My personal idea of HEAVEN!  I can't take credit for these, but found them while I was looking for a project for my daughter's nursery school class. 

Colette of "My Computer is My Canvas," on Blogspot.com has taste tested the best of all the Raw Cookie Dough recipes she could find with her sister, Lisa of Lisa's Recipe Cards (also on Blogspot), and the results are on Collette's blog at http://mycomputerismycanvas.blogspot.com/. 

Not only that, she has ingeniously dipped them in chocolate turning them into a treat for the most discriminating of guests!  For your wedding, think of adding some icing flowers in colors to accent you color scheme or make them into cookie dough pops if you are feeling extra crafty! For any bride who is a DIY'r her blog is full of great projects that could be adapted for use in your wedding.  I guess you could say I'm a fan, with a capital 'F'!   Head over to her blog for further ideas for these wonderful melt in mouth wonders and more ideas for your wedding.

Italian Weddings Overflow With Cookies!



Iced Italian Wedding Cookies (Photo via The Happy Wanderer Blog)



Lady Locks (Photo via www.cookieevents.com)



Photo by Ross Mantle via The New York Times




 



Do It Yourself Fortune Cookies -- Recipe Included

Photo courtesy of: http://www.favorideas.com/

Not interested in paying a wedding favor company for fortune cookies, or just want to control the fortunes in the cookies? Why not make your own?  The reciple below makes a dozen great fortune cookies that you can either serve plain or with some sherbret.  Cookies can also be dipped in chocoloate! Yum!

Fortune Cookie Recipe

Makes one dozen cookies.

Ingredients
1 egg white
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Butter a cookie sheet. Write fortunes on strips of paper about 4 inches long and 1/2 inch wide. Generously grease 2 cookie sheets.

Mix the egg white and vanilla until foamy but not stiff. Sift the flour, salt, and sugar and blend into the egg white mixture.

Place teaspoonfuls of the batter at least 4 inches apart on one of the prepared cookie sheets. Tilt the sheet to move the batter into round shapes about 3 inches in diameter. Be careful to make batter as round and even as possible. Do not make too many, because the cookie have to be really hot to form them and once they cool it is too late. Start with 2 or 3 to a sheet and see how many you can do.

Bake for 5 minutes or until cookie has turned a golden color 1/2 inch wide around the outer edge of the circle. The center will remain pale. While one sheet is baking, prepare the other.

Remove from oven and quickly move cookie with a wide spatula and place upside down on a wooden board. Quickly place the fortune on the cookie, close to the middle and fold the cookie in half. Place the folded edge across the rim of a measuring cup and pull the pointed edges down, one on the inside of the cup and one on the outside. Place folded cookies into the cups of a muffin tin or egg carton to hold their shape until firm.
(Recipe courtesy of: Allrecipes.com)





Photo courtesy of: http://www.favorideas.com/



All You Need is LOVE for Your Wedding Cookies

LOVE Cookie Cutter from FancyFlours.com

This tin cookie cutter with sturdy tin handle comes with a colorful recipe card.  Each card includes a recipe for cookies and frosting. The cookie cutter is S 4"H and shaped in beautiful, durable solid tin.
Get this and other unique cookie cutters at FancyFlours.com.  Fancy Flours is a unique, retail on-line baking supply business that specializes in high quality, difficult to find ingredients and delightful, edible sugar decorations and cookie cutters.
Fancy Flours offers over 800 collector's copper and easy-to-use tin cookie cutters, 100 different types of hard-to-find oils, extracts and flavorings, premium vanillas, muffin cups in every color you could ever dream of, more then 500 sugar whimsies, stunning cake jewels, intricate wafer paper designs and much, much more! Fancyflours.com will bring out your aristic, whimsical, imaginative, and even magical side.

Browse their selction of chocolate transfer sheets and culinary stencils, the perfect touch to party treats and desserts. Need to add a bit of color to your cupcakes? Try one of our brilliantly colored food sprays or icing writers, a darling cupcake pick, or shimmering edible pearls.

Fancyflours.com also provides you with mouthwatering recipes, valuable tips and how-to's, as well as a current blog featuring the latest in baking trends.

So no matter what baking project you are planning on attempting, Fancy Flours is your one stop shop for everything you need to produce professional looking and tasting projects.

Rainbow Color Cookie and Candy Buffet

Photo and Paper Designs by TomKatstudio at Etsy.com

These colorful and eye-catching sandwich cookies are dipped in brightly colored melted chocolate.  Yum!  Add to your candy/sweet buffet!  Add some pretzel sticks dipped in white chocolate and rolled in multi-colored jimmies and some lollipops in rainbow colors as well.  The paper goods are by TomKatstudios on Etsy.com.  Be sure an visit their blog and get the signs to go with your table.  They have all sorts of professionally executed designs that will change you party from ho-hum to WOW!

Carmella's Ameretti Cookies Recipe from Recchiuti's San Francisco

Photo and recipe from: http://www.recchiuti.com

CARMELLA’S AMERETTI COOKIES

Recchiuti's web site says "As a teenager I worked at my dad’s grocery market and one of my jobs was restockingshelves. That’s how I was first introduced the delicate ameretti cookies wrapped in bright wrappers and packed into colorful tins. Legend has it that they were invented by a young Italian baker in the 18th century for the Cardinal of Milan. I learned how to make them from a woman named Carmella while I was working at her son’s pizzeria on South Street in Philadelphia. They go great with a shot of espresso, a scoop of gelato or even an afternoon tea."  So for all you Philly brides, these should be a taste of the old neighborhood! 

Makes About 36 Cookies

1 1/8 cups whole almonds, blanched
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 cup powdered cane sugar
2 extra-large egg whites
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/3 cup granulated cane sugar
1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract

• Preheat the oven to 300°F. Line the bottoms of two 12-by-18 inch sheet pans with parchment paper.
• Combine half of the almonds with the half of the cornstarch in a food processor and pulse to grind into a fine, dry meal. Repeat with the remaining almonds and cornstarch. Doing this step in two batches helps prevent the release of oil and the formation of paste or nut butter. Purchased almond meal may also be used here as a substitute
• Combine the almond meal and powdered sugar in a medium bowl. Stir to mix and set aside.
• Put the egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment. Beat on medium speed until they start to froth and then add about half of the sugar. When they start to become stiff, increase the speed to high and add the rest of the sugar and the almond extract. Beat until the whites start to lose their shine but still look wet. ey will hang in stiff peaks when the whip is lifted from the
bowl.
• Fold about half of the almond mixture into the whites with a rubber spatula. Fold in the rest of the almond mixture just until no white streaks of egg whites remain.
• Using a pastry bag fitted with a #1 tip, pipe 1-inch mounds of the batter onto the prepared pans, spacing them about 1 inch apart. You may also drop the batter by tablespoonfuls rather than piping.
• Bake on the middle shelves of the oven, rotating the pans 180 degrees halfway through the baking time, 35 to 40 minutes. After 30 minutes remove one of the cookies and check the bottom. If it is moist, cook for an additional 10 minutes. If it is smooth and dry, cook for an additional 5 minutes.
• After the initial baking time, turn off the oven and crack the door slightly. Allow the
cookies to dry in the oven for an additional 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on the pans on wire racks.
• Store in an airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week.

Wedding Cookies From Lady Fortune

It's hard to believe that these delectable cookies are edible because they look so beautiful...but they are!!!  Lady Fortune's web site http://www.ladyfortunes.com/ has lots of choices for cookie favors so head on over and take a look. 

All Photos Courtesy of: http://www.ladyfortunes.com

More Macaroons

Macaroons are the perfect way to finish your wedding day.   The delicate white and peach beauties above were snapped by  Sunday Suppers and by Karen Mordechai.

  Below are some assorted colors in macaroons courtesy of: http://www.kristiblunt.com

Dress Up Your Cookie Favors

Many cookie favors today are designed to be almost too beautiful to eat.  You can order them online, from your local bakery, or if you're talented and patient, make them yourself.  Most cookies run about five dollars each.  You'll find they are usually fresher if you buy them locally instead of ordering from the web.  Be sure to buy a sample cookie to taste test since you want your favors to taste and look good. 

Queen City Cookies Springerle Cookie Favors

It's amore at Queen City Cookies located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Celebrate betrothal and wedded bliss with elegant, delicious Springerle art. Express your fondness and appreciation to friends, family and colleagues with these thoughtful designs that will wow! Perfect for any color scheme but I'd package these beautiful white cookies in a bag with a black and white ribbon or tag as a wedding favor.

Cake Balls

Cake Balls (decorate in colors to match your theme)

Ingredients (Makes 36)

1 (18.25 ounce) package chocolate cake mix
1 (16 ounce) container prepared chocolate frosting
1 (3 ounce) bar chocolate flavored confectioners coating

Directions

Prepare the cake mix according to package directions using any of the recommended pan sizes. When cake is done, crumble while warm into a large bowl, and stir in the frosting until well blended. Melt chocolate coating in a glass bowl in the microwave, or in a metal bowl over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth. Use a melon baller or small scoop to form balls of the chocolate cake mixture. Dip the balls in chocolate using a toothpick or fork to hold them. Place on waxed paper to set.

These are easy to make, don't need a lot of ingredients, and the only time consuming part is decorating them.

This web site sells the chocolate confectioner's coating that you need for this recipe, your local craft store probably carries it as well. You can buy higher quality chocolate coating but it's more difficult to work with. http://www.sugarcraft.com/catalog/candies/chocolate.htm . Your local craft store or Sugarcraft will also sell the candy cups to place your chocolate balls in for display purposes. They come in a variety of colors.

Pesche or Italian Peach Wedding Cookies

Rustic peach wedding cookies called pesche are a beautiful additon to and Italian theme wedding. While they take a bit of work to put together, the oohs and ahs from your guests make them well worth the work.

The recipe makes 15 cookies. Remember, even if you're having 100 guests you don't need one cookie per person if you are making an assortment of cookies. You can make this recipe in larger quantities once you decide it's perfect for you weddding cookie table.

Pesche or Italian Peach Wedding Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup apricot preserves
1/2 cup chopped almonds
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons instant tea powder
2 1/2 tablespoons brandy
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup red decorator sugar
1/2 cup orange decorator sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (170 degrees C).

Combine sugar, oil, milk, eggs, baking powder and vanilla in large bowl. Blend in enough flour to form a soft dough. Roll into walnut size balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Cookies will be pale. Remove to rack to cool. Hollow out cookie center. Reserve crumbs. Combine 2 cups crumbs, preserves, almonds, cream cheese, instant tea powder, brandy and cinnamon. Mix to blend. Fill cookies with crumb mixture. Press 2 cookies together to form peach. Brush lightly with brandy or water and dip one spot in the red sugar for blush and roll entire cookie in orange sugar. Top with a icing leaf or purchase the plastic peach leaves.

You don't want to know the nutritional info on these, trust me!

Recipes for Cookies for Your Cookie Tray

If you want to have cookies as favors or just as part of a sweet table and want to make them yourself, the cookbook "Sweet Maria's Italian Cookie Tray: A Cookbook" by Maria Bruscino Sanchez is a great reference book for you. Available from Amazon.com and other major booksellers, Maria's cookbook is a fantastic resource for recipes that range from drop and molded cookies to filled ones, biscotti, biscuits, taralle and pizelles, and many more. Cookie lovers will find plenty to devour in this compilation of Italian American favorites. Maria grew up in a closely knit Italian family, surrounded by Italian traditions and celebrations that her family brought with them from the 'old country.' As an adult she opened up her own bakery called "Sweet Maria's." It was at "Sweet Maria's" that she developed her recipes into Italian cookies with an American twist. Sanchez's precise directions ensure consistent results in the home kitchen, although you may need to go to the Italian Market to get all the ingredients needed. If you try it, please leave feedback on which cookies were a hit!

Floral Bites to Die For!

Holiday Candy Lane has done it again.  This Etsy artisan has made cookies that aren't your typical wedding favor cookies shaped like a wedding cake or a bridal gown. Instead they're brightly colored freshly baked sugar cookies that are shaped in rose cabochons. These flower cookies come in a variety of colors so you don't have to go monochromatic. If ordering for your wedding the bakers suggests you pre-order well in advance, and leave your event date at checkout in the note to seller section. You can order these and other delicious things at Etsy's Holiday Candy Lane.

Cannoli Fortune Cookies

You've seen Chinese fortune cookies for favors, but this website http://www.cannolibymail.com/ sells cannoli fortune cookies.  You can either have them premade (see their photo), or you can buy your own shells and make your own adding your own Italian wedding proverbs.  If you're adding your own here a few proverbs to get you started:

"Ne di Venere Ne di Marte non si sposa ne si parte!"
Neither marry nor depart on the day of Venus or of Mars!

"Sposa bagnata, sposa fortunata"
A wet bride is a lucky bride (referring to rain on the wedding day)

"La buona moglie fa il buon marito"
A good wife makes a good husband.

"La moglie e' la chiave di casa"
The wife is the key of the house.

"Tra moglie e marito ... non mettere il dito."
Don't put a finger between wife and husband.

"Moglie e buoi ...dei paesi tuoi."
Wife and bull ...from your home-town.

"La prima e' Matrimonio, la seconda comagnia, la terza un'eresia."
The first wife is marriage, the second company, the thrid heresy.

"Meglio il marito senz'amore, che con gelosia."
Better to have a husband without love than with jealousy.

"Chi ha moglie ha doglie"
Who has a wife has strife.

"Chi non ha moglie non ha padrone."
Who has no wife has no master.

"Casa senza fimmina ‘mpuvirisci"
(Sicillian proverb) A house without a woman is poor

"Matrimoni e viscuvati, di lu celu su mannati"
(Sicillian proverb) Weddings and bishops are heavensen

DIY Pastel Custom Color Sprinkles

If you're making your own cookies for favors you know how hard it can be to find a custom color that coordinates with your wedding colors.  Just go to the web page for Such Pretty Things, home of some of the most spectacular DIY projects, to learn how to make your own designer sprinkles.  Don't settle for the ho hum colors in your supermarket or craft store, now you can have designer jimmies!  http://www.suchprettythings.typepad.com/my_weblog/page/2/

SoBelle Decorative Buttery Confections, Premier Designer of Decorative Cookies for Your Wedding

The designers at SoBelle have a variety of cookies for you to choose from for wedding favors. Colors and design are available to fit almost any wedding. The owner began baking at an early age and after years of perfecting her craft she now offers you the opportunity to use her creative cookie favors for your wedding. You can visit her at her web site www.sobellecookies.com SoBelle specializes in fresh, fancy and decadent cookies that are a treat to eat as well as being beautiful to the eye. They are made from the freshest ingredients and have no artificial preservatives.

(Photos courtesty of SoBelle Decorative Buttery Confection Web Site)

Cookie Trick from the Folks at Bake It Pretty

Having trouble rolling out that dough nice and thin and picking up the cut dough to get it onto the cookie sheet?  The folks at Bake It Pretty have solved this problem for you making DIY cookies a breeze.  They credit the trick to The Joy of Cooking, so if you have a copy of that in your library you can look there or go to their website where they've provided step by step directions and a video for those of you who are cookie rolling challenged!  http://www.bakeitpretty.com/blog/?p=548

The Flour Pot

The Flour Pot in Ambler PA provides some of the most attractive wedding cookies in the area.  The store is dedicated to providing a bride with the ultimate in wedding favors.  Browse their webpagem they specialize in handmade elegant party favors.  To get an idea of the variety of designs that they can offer you for your wedding day go http://www.flourpotcookies.com/.

 

How to Choose Your Wedding Cookie Favors

When you start to consider what your wedding cookies should look like first consider the theme of your wedding.  Is it butterflies? tulips? hearts? All of these can be incorporated into your wedding favors.  You could also choose a cookie shaped like a wedding cake, a gown or a diamond engagement ring.  Another option is a cookie related to your venue site.  If you're having it at the zoo choose a popular animal or several.  Whatever you choose be sure to taste the cookies before buying them and find a reliable baker who understands basics of wedding favor cookies.  They need to be a sturdier cookie, not something that crumbles easily, and it should be something that can be easily iced.  Whatever you choose you cookie will add that extra 'something' to your special day. 

(cookie photo courtesy of The Flour Pot, Ambler PA)

Chocolate Covered Pretzel Stick Favors

INGREDIENTS:
10 oz. bags of Pretzel Rods (plan to get about 20 per bag, which allows for broken/unusable ones)
12 oz. bag of Nestle semi-sweet chocolate chips or melting bark (1 bag will cover three-fourths of about 40 pretzels)
12 oz. bag of Nestle white-chocolate chips
Shortening
wax paper

Optional: sugar crystals, chopped nuts, flaked coconut, or sprinkles can be substituted to coordinate with your affair

Materials (from craft store like Michael’s)

Wilton brand pretzel bags (20 cellophane bags per package – each bag can hold 2 pretzels)
fine-tipped plastic bottle (like the hair-dye bottles)
Ribbon
Scrapbooking paper for favor tags or use ready-made tags (I incorporated the paper I used from our DIY invitations purchased at Target. A box of 50 invitations cost about $35. Visit www.gartnerstudios.com for samples.)
hole-punch
paper-cutter
scissors

Notes and Instructions
Use Microsoft Publisher to design and personalize our favor tags. Cut out the tags in a simple rectangular shape and affixed them to a solid paper for a visual border. (I’m sure there are fancier tags that could be made, but I am more tech-savvy than scrapbook-savvy. Use your strengths when creating your DIY projects and your personality will show through.) Double hole-punch the tag to feed through ribbon.  Make in advance and set aside.
To melt chocolates, use a TALL coffee cup to accomodate the depth needed to cover most of the pretzel.  Pour the chips into the mug with 1 Tablesppon of shortening.  Microwave 30 seconds.  Stir and continue to
microwave in 30-second intervals until almost melted. (Be sure not to overheat as this will ruin the chocolate). Put the mug in a pan of warm water to keep the chocolate fluid and warm.  Dunk your pretzel leaving enough of a tip to use as an edible handle.  If you want to add sprinkles, do it before the chocolate melts.  If you want to drizzle with white chocolate, place your pretzel rods on wax paper to dry after dunking.  Melt the white chocolate and pour into drizzle bottle.  Move left to right and right to left with the pretzels in a line, making a fast and easy way to decorate your pretzels.  You can also color your white chocolate. 
Let pretzels dry overnight and place in cellophane bags.  Tie bags with your favor tags. 

Hearts and Flowers

The Whipped Bakeshop has a large selection of cookies for your wedding.  They're located in Philadelphia PA, but you can reach them from their website: http://www.whippedbakeshop.com/.  Just a few previews from their shop are shown above.