Thursday, December 25, 2014

Italian Meatball Cookies

I promise this will be the last cookie recipe for the year!  I came across this recipe on Allrecipes.com when I was searching for recipes for John and I's first Christmas together.  Now the idea of a meatball cookie might not initially seem like a great idea, but the name comes from the way the cookie looks and now from what is it made of.

This cookie has everything you would want in a holiday cookie!  Cloves, allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg spice this cookie perfectly and make it sing with the flavors of the holidays.  The cocoa and glaze gives this cookie the perfect amount of chocolatelyness, and the walnuts give it just the right amount of crunch.  I might be crazy, but to me that sounds like a whole barrel full of Christmas!


Italian Meatball Cookies (Makes 30 cookies)
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2t vanilla
3 cups flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2t baking powder
1 1/2t baking soda
1t salt
1t cloves*
1t allspice
1t cinnamon
1/2t nutmeg
1 cup chopped walnuts
Glaze
2 cups icing sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup milk

* If you don't have cloves, like I never seem do, you can omit this and the cookies will still be delicious!

Preheat oven to 350° and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.  Cream together butter and sugar.  Add eggs and vanilla and mix well.  In a separate bowl stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices.  Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, mixing until the flour is completely combined.  Stir in the chopped walnuts by hand.

Form dough into 1 inch balls and place on parchment lined baking sheets.  Bake at 350° for 10 minutes.  Cookies should be fairly firm but still have some give to them.  Do not over bake them. Transfer cookies to a cooling rack and allow to cool slightly before glazing them.


Whisk together icing sugar, cocoa powder and milk until smoother.  Dip the top of the cookies into the glaze and place on the cooled parchment lined baking sheets to set.  If the glaze in the bowl begins to set up before you are done the cookies, whisk in a little more milk to soften it.

 
These cookies freeze extremely well so get them in there fast or I will not be held accountable for what happens if you don't!

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