Italian Peach Cookie Food

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.

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.

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 COOKIES RECIPE - (4.1/5)

Steps:

• For the cookies, first preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the eggs and sugar in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until light, about 3 minutes. Add the oil and beat until creamy, then mix in the milk and vanilla. Mix the flour with the baking powder and salt, then add this to the batter and beat just until it is combined. Take a small amount of batter in your hands, and roll into a ball about 1 1/2 inches for large, 3/4 of an inch for the small sized cookies and place these on the baking sheets. Continue to roll out all of the batter into balls, and then bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until very light brown on the bottom. Cool well. For the filling, use a sharp knife, and cut out a circle at the bottom of the cookie removing the cookie centers and placing these in a bowl. Be careful not to cut completely through the cookies, but you need to make space for the filling. Once you have cut the bottom of each cookie, break up the cookie pieces you have cut out into fine crumbs. Add enough of the peach jam to the cookie crumbs until you have a sticky filling. Carefully fill each cookie, and then matching cookies or shape and size, place two cookies together, using the peach mixture as glue to hold the cookies together. Clean any peach jam that may ooze from the seams. To decorate, place about 1/2 cup of the peach liqueur in two separate bowls, and color one yellow and the other red. In a third bowl, place the super fine sugar. (I found the cookies worked better if the colors were fairly strong.) Carefully dip each cookie pair into the red mixture first 3/4 of the way up the cookie, then dip the other end in the yell mixture. I found that if I then dipped the yellow end briefly in the red liquid it created a more natural looking color. Gently blot the cookie with paper towels to remove most of the liquid, then immediately roll the cookie in the sugar. Place the finished cookie on a sheet of waxed paper to dry and continue to color the rest of the cookies in the same manner. Once the cookies have dried, you can insert a couple of mint leaves and a whole clove to resemble a peach.

PESCHE CON CREMA (PEACHES WITH CREAM)

Steps:

• Make the pastry cream: In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring milk and lemon zest to a simmer over medium heat. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale yellow; add flour and whisk until well combined.
• Remove lemon zest from milk and discard; slowly whisk hot milk into egg mixture. Return mixture to saucepan and place over medium heat; cook, stirring constantly, until cream thickens and begins to boil.
• Transfer pastry cream to a large bowl; cover with plastic wrap, pressing down on the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Let cool completely.
• Make the dough: In a large bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder. Whisk eggs in another large bowl. Add sugar and whisk to combine. Whisk in milk, butter, and lemon zest until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture, mixing with a fork, until dough is smooth and stiff. Let dough rest for 5 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with nonstick baking mats; set aside.
• Using a lightly mounded tablespoon of dough, roll the dough firmly between your palms to make a smooth round ball, about the size of a walnut. Repeat process, taking care to make sure all the balls are fairly uniform in size. Place balls on prepared baking sheets spacing about 1 inch apart; you should be able to fit 24 balls on each baking sheet. Flatten tops slightly with your fingertips.
• Transfer to oven and bake until bottoms are lightly browned, about 15 minutes; tops will remain pale. Transfer to a rack and let cool slightly.
• Assemble the peaches: While the cookies are still warm, use a small, sharp knife to cut a circle about the size of a quarter on the bottom (flat) side of each cookie, taking care not to crack the edges. Use the tip of the knife to scrape out enough crumbs to make hollow and hold about 1 teaspoon pastry cream. Set cookies aside.
• Place rum or maraschino liqueur and schnapps in a small bowl. Add enough red and yellow food coloring to create your desired shade of peach; set aside. Fill a shallow bowl with sugar; set aside.
• Fill each hollowed-out cookie with 1 teaspoon filling. Sandwich two cookies together so that the filling comes just to the edge, taking care not to crack or break. Using a pastry brush, brush "peach" with colored liquor and roll in sugar to coat. Transfer to a large airtight container and repeat process with remaining cookies, liqueur, and sugar. Cover container and transfer to refrigerator; let chill overnight.
• Just before serving, pierce each "peach" with a toothpick where the two cookies come together and insert the stem of a peach leaf. Alternatively, you can garnish cookies with decorative or chocolate leaves.

PESCHE DOLCI - ITALIAN "PEACH" COOKIES RECIPE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 F. Make chocolate and vanilla pudding prior to starting the cookies. 1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together until the mixture is fluffy and thick. You can use hand held or stand mixer. 2. Add the butter to the bowl and continue to whip until it is fully incorporated. 3. Add the lemon and orange zests and mix well 4. Add the salt and 1/2 cup flour at a time, into the cookie dough until the batter is smooth. If the dough is too dry, you can add liquor if needed (or milk) 5. Taking a small amount of dough (Tbsp worth) and mold over a very well oiled walnut shell (use non-stick spray and spray the walnut shells VERY WELL!). Place onto a parchment lined baking sheet. 6. Bake in a preheated oven for 16 minutes. When 16 minutes are up, you can place the cookies under a LOW Broil, if you would like them to be browned on the tops (about 2 minutes. I do NOT put them under the broiler. 7. Allow to cool, until you can handle cookies, with a knife, trim any dough on the bottom of the walnut shells, off. 8. Pair up similar sized halves and set aside until ready to assemble Cookie Assembly: 1. In a small bowl, fill with Peach Schnapps and yellow food coloring. In a second small bowl, fill with Sambuca and red food coloring. In a third bowl, fill with granulated sugar. 2. Fill one half (one cookie) with the vanilla pudding and another half with chocolate pudding. Press the cookies together to form a peach. 3. Dip 1/2 peach cookie in red food coloring and the other half in the yellow food coloring. Roll the entire cookie in the sugar and then place the cookie in a cupcake liner. These cookies are best consumed in three days