I was the one in our family who could devour a whole batch of “white cookies” in just a couple of sittings. So when my mom would say — should I make the white cookies? I had a push/pull feeling. Yes! I love them. No! I’ll be only one to eat them and here comes some extra pounds. Grr. BUT they’re so good.

Why was it only me who liked them? Well, they’re not too sweet (I’m not big on too sweet), they have a cakey almost biscuity body with a lemony vanilla-y icing. Ohhhh. Very good. Soft to the bite, exciting to the palate. Maybe they’re very sophisticated and that’s why I’m the only who recognized that (ha ha, just kidding).

Make them. Bake them. They’ll stay nice in a tin (after icing sets) for a week. But they won’t last that long. Because you’ll eat them first. And, yes, they’re from my Italian-American background, and despite our simple name for them I’ve seen similar cookies in Italian bakeries with the name: anginetti. But those bakery cookies never lived up to the ones coming from our home kitchen. So now…from your home kitchen!

“White Cookies” or Italian Lemon Cookies

For the cookies:

½ stick unsalted butter (four tablespoons)

5 tablespoons sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour plus 2 tablespoons

4 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

For the icing:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, very soft (room temp)

1 ¼ cups powdered sugar

2 drops lemon extract

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Make the cookies:

Cream butter and sugar till smooth. Add eggs one at a time, and vanilla extract. Beat to combine. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour and baking powder. Add to the butter-sugar-egg mixture. Beat to combine until a dough forms. Don’t over mix. Pinch off one-inch pieces of dough and shape into balls. Place on a baking sheet. Continue with the rest of the dough.

Bake for about 15 minutes until cookies are slightly colored golden-tan. Use a spatula to gentle move cookies from baking pan to a rack to cool (or open a brown paper bag flat and let cool on that). 

Make the icing:

In a medium mixing bowl, use a spoon to mash the butter flat. Add the sugar, and mix roughly. Run tap water until it is very hot. Drizzle in a little hot water – just start with about a teaspoon – and stir to combine, mixing vigorously and quickly to incorporate the butter. Add more water little by little until you reach a good consistency…like honey.

When cookies are cool, dip them top-first into the icing, then stand them icing-side up on a flat surface. Continue with all the cookies. You can store cookies in airtight tins once the icing has dried and set.