These light, crisp cookies boast of warm citrus and almond essence. They are not too sweet but are buttery and delicious when served with a hot cup of espresso.
I honestly never meant to be posting so close to Christmas – and for some(most?) of you, this post will appear ‘on’ Christmas. However, I found myself in one of those ‘pleasantly melancholy’ moods while I was doing the last of my holiday baking, and I honestly just needed to share something with you guys. So, pardon the poor form of ‘work on Christmas,’ but I promise you that isn’t what this is at all…it’s more of a random stream of consciousness centered around cookies I wasn’t really planning on posting.
It’s early afternoon and I’m puttering around the long wooden table in my dining room where I’m preparing today’s cookies, it’s a ‘cozy mess’ typical of the holidays, cookie dough and baking paraphernalia set amidst the remnants of multiple flour dustings. As I’m filling the cookie trays, I find myself drifting between nostalgia-laced half-focus and willful daydreaming. Like you, I’ve spent the last four weeks alternating between seasonal cheer and well-hidden weariness, going from one to the other in turn.
From one event to the other, we’ve all lit the sparks of new memories that will linger like candles in the ever-fading archives of our memories. They can be simple like finding my dog asleep under the Christmas tree wrapped up(tangled?) in the mantle blanket, or something silly like trying to guide my tech-illiterate brother on how to install and use the new Alexa I got him as an early Christmas present, or something ironic like driving home one night and commenting to my daughter on how very tacky and downright silly I found a particular type of outdoor decoration – only to find that both of my neighbors had installed precisely that type of decoration, they all simply come together to form the tapestry of memories.
For me, that’s sort of what the holiday is, a big mix of nostalgia-laced memory making, especially since most of the inspiration for what I do here involves reaching back and plucking bits and pieces from my past and putting them back together again. For example, today’s cookie is the sort of dessert that my family would pair alongside black coffee or demitasse. Less a pastry or a dessert, as opposed to something with ‘just a touch of sweet’ to have after dinner.
Anyway, in my experience, the standard ‘S-Cookie’ from local Italian bakeries is often much too large, a bit too ‘crumbly’ or even dry, and are rarely sweet enough for my palate. My answer to that is today’s recipe. My ‘Holiday S Cookies’ retain the same shape and flavor of the beloved classic but are downsized just a tad bit, and I focused on keeping them soft and moist, with just a touch of added sweetness.
To start things off, we whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. Please, please, please use finely ground cornmeal! Otherwise, you’ll be chomping down on tiny ‘rocks’ of corn bits – and that is, assuredly, not what you want.
Next, in the bowl of your stand mixer, beat together butter, sugar, and eggs, then add in vanilla, almond extract and lemon zest. Then add in the dry ingredients and beat until a firm but sticky dough comes together.
Now, portion out the dough half a tablespoon at a time, and roll those portions into four inch long strands about a half an inch thing, and lace them into S-shapes, and arrange those on the sheets as pictured below. Then simply bake the cookies for about fifteen minutes at 350 degrees, or until they’re golden. Then simply let them cool on a wire rack, dust with some powdered sugar and serve.
Savoiardi Cookies (Italian S Cookies)
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 17 minutes
- Total Time: 22 minutes
- Yield: 2 dozen cookies 1x
Ingredients
- 1 heaping cup AP flour
- 1/2 cup finely ground cornmeal
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick butter
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 egg, plus 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract, optional
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
- Confectioner’s sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat butter, sugar and eggs. Add vanilla, almond extract, and lemon zest. Finally, add the dry ingredients to the mix and beat until a firm, sticky dough forms.
- Taking about 1/2 tablespoon of cookie dough, roll it into a 4-inch strand, about 1/2-inch diameter then place onto the lined baking sheets into an ‘S’ shape.
- Baking the cookies for about 15-17 minutes or until lightly golden around the edges.
- Let cool on a wire rack, then dust with confectioner’s sugar if desired.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
And that’s a wrap until 2019.
From all of us at Living the Gourmet, we wish you and your loved ones a beautiful, blessed Christmas.
Enjoy with love!
angiesrecipes says
Those cookies look very yummy!
Merry Christmas, Catherine!
DAVID J MYERS says
Catherine, Lovely little cookies! Almond and citrus is a nice blend of flavors. All I need now is a nice fresh cup of coffee… Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year! Take Care, Big Daddy Dave
Explore The 6 says
Sugar is my weakness, especially cookies so this post made me instantly hungry. LOL. I love sugar cookies but don’t make them, think I will give this recipe a try 🙂
Stacie says
These sound so good! I’m a big fan of cookies that aren’t overly sweet. I like them to be just sweet enough.
Danielle Wolter says
You had me at almond essence. I absolutely love anything with almond. These cookies sound delicious!
Claudia Lamascolo says
Wow one of my all time favorite cookies my mom would make. I love them and your’s are so festive I just love the Santa cup. My grandkids would flip over them Happy New Year cant wait to see whats in store for this page next year all the love to you both xo Claudia
Sara says
These are so quaint and perfect! My kids would love making these and especially eating them!
Denay DeGuzman says
These Italian cookies look absolutely divine! I want to reach through my screen and grab a few! Thank you so much for this delicious recipe.
Chad says
These cookies look seriously delicious! I am definitely gonna try to back some for the NYE! Thanks a lot for the recipe.
Chad
http://www.mosaicslab.com
Stephanie Jeannot says
I prefer homemade than store bought too. These seem pretty lean. Only one egg? Not that bad.
April says
Well, that combination of citrus and almond essence is just incredible! Truly one of a kind. And I can only imagine how awesome these cookies taste!
Jackline A says
So nostalgic I loved these when I was a kid, although they were only the store bought ones. This would be so fun to create a childhood favourite from scratch!
Alexandra says
I have pinned this to try soon. These look like my most favourite kind of cookie! Delicious!
Sam says
I’ve never had S cookies, but they look really good! They also sound pretty easy to make, which is always a plus since I’m pretty limited in my kitchen skills. 😀
Veena Azmanov says
OH, I love eating these cookies at a local bakery but I have never made them myself. This sounds so simple. They really do taste delicious. I must try this recipe when I plan to make them.
Marisa Franca says
I’ve pinned to make them next year. I’m not familiar with the cookies but that isn’t odd since we are from Northern Italy and we moved to an area that had NO Italians around. I get a bit nostalgic too — Christmas was important to my folks – it was always about family and food – certainly not this mad frenzy to get presents and more presents. Lovely photos too.
Mahy Elamin says
Oh my goodness 😱. Thank you for this recipe!! I remember these cookies as a kid and I have never quit looking for them lol! They are so SUPER easy to make and taste incredible! Thank you thank you!!
Jenni LeBaron says
I love almond flavored desserts and these look wonderful! The perfect cookie to nibble on with a cup of tea or a Christmas cocoa!
Yeah Lifestyle says
I love how this cookie reminds me so much of Christmas, thanks for sharing the recipe. Would love to make this over the holidays with my children
Shar says
As these cookies are so cute and perfect for the holidays! I love when cookies have just the right amount of sweetness so these sound perfect!
Nikki says
These cookies look so good! I love a good cookie recipe, what a great way to end the year!
Monica says
Gorgeous looking cookies and plus I love the Santa mug – so cute:))
Preet says
This looks delightful and tasty. I would love to try making this. My kids would absolutely love this.
Meagan says
I used to love getting these when I lived in Italy. I’m definitely going to have to try this recipe now.
Becca Wilson says
These cookies look like they would be so good. I have never even heard of these before!
mary anderson says
i also love to make different kinds of cookies like you this is what i need to make for my supper those crystals on cookies are so tempting thanks for the recipe 🙂
Jo says
Hi – I can’t wait to make these cookies! I have a quick question – the Ingredients noted within the recipe include lemon zest while the Instructions and narrative note lemon juice. I suppose that either would work well, but you can you clarify which one you intended for this recipe?
Many thanks!
Jo
Living the Gourmet says
Dear Jo, Thank you so much for stopping by! I am delighted to hear you are going to make these and I know you will love them! I apologize for the typo. For this recipe just use lemon zest 🙂 Let me know how they turn out and if you have any further questions let me know. Enjoy!
Jo says
Thanks so much for your quick response! I was very excited to make these cookies right away (I call S cookies “comfort cookies” :-). I didn’t have cornmeal so I substituted with almond flour. This resulted in a dough that was likely slightly more sticky than it should be. I therefore measured it out in 1/2 tbsp portions and refrigerated for 20 mins. This (along with very little flour on my board) made the dough much easier to roll into the strand and then S shape. They are delicious – the combination of vanilla, almond and lemon make these very special. I look forward to making more soon – thanks again!