These pretty lemon-flavored Italian Love Knots are traditional for special occasions, especially weddings since they symbolize “tying the knot”.
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons lemon extract (or marsala wine)
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
milk (if needed)
sprinkles (optional)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a baking sheet or line with parchment paper. Beat the butter until creamy. Add eggs, sugar and lemon extract and mix well. In a separate bowl combine flour and baking powder. Add flour mixture to the butter mixture, adding a very small amount of milk if the batter is too thick or dry. Mix batter until dough forms. Shape pieces of dough into a thin cigar shape, about 4 or 5 inches long, and then loop the dough into a knot shape. Place knot-shaped dough onto prepared baking sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until just barely golden (cookies should remain a very light color). Remove to wire racks to cool. Prepare Powdered Sugar Icing, but add a couple of tablespoons of milk (more or less, as needed), to get a thinner consistency, so you will have a thin coating. Coat cooled cookies with this glaze, and top with sprinkles while wet, if desired.
Notes
- Photo thanks to Anna G cc.
- Alternate names: Tarallucci al Limone, Italian Lemon Knots, Italian Easter Cookies, Unicetti, Taralli Dolci, Anginetti.
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