Italian Lemon Drop Cookies {Anginetti}
Italian Lemon Drop Cookies {Anginetti} are a fresh, bright cookie recipe for spring with just the right amount of lemon flavor. The perfect Italian dessert!
I’m in an Italian sort of mood this week and these Italian Lemon Drop Cookies are definitely satisfying my craving. Earlier this week Mr. Wishes and I had a cousin visit from Italy and we all had dinner together Monday night.
We didn’t eat pasta, but everything else about that dinner made me feel like I was back in Italy again: everyone speaking in Italian, tons of food, the best homemade wine I’ve ever had, late-night espresso, and the list goes on. Now, I did not partake in the espresso as I can’t handle my caffeine, but I did enjoy everything else in that list.
I’m so glad you’re here! Follow along on Pinterest for more inspiration!
Like most Italian cookies seem to be, these Italian lemon drop cookies are not overly sweet. The texture of these cookies is that of a cake more than a cookie – soft, light pillows of goodness. They have also been known to be called Italian Lemon Knot Cookies, Lemon Iced Cookies, Tarallucci…and the list goes on.
These really are the perfect treat for summer or spring and would be a great addition to your holiday dessert tables or cookie trays! Can I get away with serving lemon cookies at Christmas time? I like to break the rules, so I say, what the heck?
For the delicious icing, I deviated from the original recipe and I used my favorite glaze recipe that I normally use to top Italian cookies. I use it for my Italian Ricotta Cookies that I make for Christmas each year and loved it with these cookies. Add some lemon extract to it for that lemon factor and BOOM – perfection.
If you’re loving lemon desserts, check out my Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars. I just love the combination of lemon and blueberry. You will also love my Lemon Mousse Sugar Cookie Cups! Can you tell I’m on a lemon kind of mood today? I am also drooling over this lemon sheet cake from my friend Cheryl.
Note: you can use yellow sprinkles in place of the lemon zest on top for the garnish, if you prefer. I loved the extra lemon flavor that the zest added to it, though.
Check out my how-to video of me making the recipe for these Italian Lemon Drop Cookies! Visual learners will love this.
- ½ cup vegetable or canola oil
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup milk
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons lemon extract
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 3 cups flour
- ¼ cup butter, melted
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 teaspoons lemon extract
- yellow food coloring (enough to achieve the shade of yellow you desire)
- zest from half a lemon, for garnish
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or hand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together oil, sugar, milk, eggs, and extract until well combined.
- Whisk together the baking powder and flour and add to wet ingredients; mix until just combined. The dough will be soft and sticky.
- Using a cookie scoop, drop spoonfuls of dough onto parchment paper or silicone mat lined baking sheet.
- Bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes. Let rest for two minutes and then remove from baking sheet to let cool completely.
- In a bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well. Add as much food coloring as needed to achieve desired yellow color (I use about 5 drops).
- Frost the completely cooled cookies.
- Let the icing dry and harden before storing if you're not serving them right away. Store in an airtight container between layers of wax paper. If freezing, freeze before frosting. Enjoy!
Originally published: April 14, 2016. Edited/added video April 27, 2018.
Recipe source: adapted from jensfavoritecookies.com
“soft, light pillows of goodness” indeed! These look amazing, Ashley – I wish you catered cos I’d order a dozen of these lovelies from ya!
Do you still have the original frosting recipe instead of the glaze? I loved that frosting so much and would like to make it with that again. Thanks!
OMG – that FROSTING! Hand me a spoon, stat!
Yay for easy to make cookies that are full of bright lemon flavor. They make me happy just looking at them.
these look scrumptious…I can’t wait to try them
Ooh nice I wish I had an Italian Lemon Drop Cookie or two with my mint tea now.
Lemon?? Then these are for me! My gf growing up used to make a version of these, if they had been lemon I would have eaten them all1
I want an Italian cousin to come visit! I imagine it was like an episode of Full House or another 90s sitcom when the ethnic cousins come for a visit, right? 😀 And these cookies look so delightful!
I’m always in an Italian food kind of mood! : ) I’ve never had these cookies and yours looks so good. I want to sit down with a few and a cup of tea!
Oh man these cookies look so good. I LOVE lemon cookies but these look some of the best lemon cookies I have ever seen. Make sure to save me some of that homemade wine because I want a big glass!
Oh wow! That sounds like an awesome time! I love sharing with family and specially around good eats…and these cookies!
I’m all about the lemon desserts these days… and these cookies look perfect! And yes to all the zest!!
These look delicious, but is 1 tablespoon baking powder the correct amount? Please, someone who’s made them let me know?
I must have done something wrong because this dough is super sticky and hard to get off the spoon is I tried to hand roll then and that didn’t work. What did I do wrong?
The dough IS very sticky- it’s not a normal texture of cookies and that is normal. Try flouring your hands and see if that helps. Maybe even add a bit more flour to the dough? That should help!!
We used a scoop and lightly buttered it before we scooping the cookie dough. It worked great, and we only buttered it the one time. No need to repeat buttering.
I followed the recipe exactly, and yes, the dough is very sticky, that must be what makes them so soft and fluffy? And the icing, ohhhh, my, is it ever delicious!
These cookies have jumped to the top of my favorites list. Must be the Latin in me, although not Italian, I’m a lemon anything lover!
Thank you so much!!!
Is there a way to substitute real lemons juice for the flavouring? If so, how much, etc.? Thank you.
I would use the zest of a lemon, not the juice. The acidic juice may throw off the cake (as the extract doesn’t have acid in it) and it will give you a tart flavor, not a lemony flavor. The flavor is in the zest.
I had a patient who use to bring lemon drop cookies in all the time. Her health got better, which is great but that meant no more cookies. 🙁 My coworkers loves her cookies as much as I did. We would sit and talk about how we can get her recipe or have her bring in some but that would be unethical lol. I searched and searched for the same type of cookies or at least one that resembles hers and then there was your recipe. I remembered the cookies was soft, pillow, and cake like…as you described. I made a batch, took a bite and i almost fell on the floor because it was exactly how i remembered hers. My coworkers are raving about!Thank you so much for this delicious recipe! Now we dont have to bother her!
Wow- this comment just made my day. This makes me so happy!! I SO appreciate you coming back to leave me this comment and great feedback. Thank you!!
Can you substitute self rising flour for this cookie
Can you substitute self rising flour for this cookie dough
Yes but keep in mind the Self rising flour has the baking soda/powder already in it.
Excellent I added white chocolate chipits to the batter wow superb
Oh I love that idea!
Have you ever made these and frozen them?
Yes. I would freeze them before frosting.
Would there be something I could substitute for the oil? Coconut oil, butter, etc? Just wondering. These look amazing and I want to try them!
Coconut oil should work! As long as it’s the same consistency.
I love lemon anything that is sweet. However never buy cream, can you substitute condensed milk for the heavy cream and if so. how much Ashley? HELP PLEASE
;
The consistency would be too different. You can try half and half or whole milk possibly. But I wouldn’t sub the condensed milk. Way too different.
I don’t own a stand up mixer with panels, just the regular hand mixer. Is that going be a problem
You can use a hand mixer!
My friends mother used to make them like lady fingers . These cookies taste like hers!Have you ever heard of doing them in a different shape???
No but I love that idea!!
The lemony goodness in these cookies is to die for!
One of my all time favorite cookies! And LEMON! Yes please!
We love these Italian cookies.
These would definitely be a fabulous addition to all the holiday treats I make!!!
These are so soft and delicious!
My family loves EVERYTHING lemon. Thank you for a new lemon cookie recipe!!
Love these- I eat too many!
Looks like these are my kids’ new favorite cookies! They finished a batch in just minutes!
These are literally my favorite cookies – they’re SO good!
These are so soft. The frosting is amazing, too.
These are simply the best ever little cookies. So good with a cup of coffee.
Can you substitute gluten free flour?
Yes I don’t see why not
I can’t get this to print black…only an unreadable gray///new ink last week…can you tell me why or how to fix that…I can’t wait to try these!
Great taste and cloud-like texture and easy to make. As with every lemon cookie ever . . . need to add more lemon! Per our preference, upped the lemon extract in the cookie and added a lot of lemon zest plus 1-2 tsp of lemon juice to the frosting. But delicious however you do it.
Just wondering if I can use this recipe to make the “knot” or do you think it will be too sticky?
I’m pretty sure the dough would be too soft for that – sorry!
Can these be frozen after frosting?
Yes, they can be frozen!
Made these. Love them! Mine did not turn out round as the ones in the picture, I used milk instead of cream. Do everyone else’s look as round and perfect as the ones in the pic? Delicious regardless of shape but I do like uniform shapes.
What size (#) cookie scoop do you recommend for itatlian drop cookies?
Can you use olive oil instead or would taste be off.?
Pingback: Best Ever Snickerdoodle Cookie Recipe - A Dash of Sanity
Just made these for a summertime treat and they are excellent! Just like Nonni’s but dare I say better? Very soft and tender with plenty of lemon flavor. I will be adding these to the holiday cookie trays.
I did have a problem with my frosting setting up. Any idea why? Thanks!