Lilla’s Famous Peach Cookies

A beloved family recipe for peach cookies that is often requested at parties and holidays! Here is Lilla’s recipe for her fabulous peach cookies! These are a very simple cookie, dipped in a peach flavored syrup and filled with a vanilla pastry cream. Simple but delicious! These can be made without alcohol so everyone can enjoy!

This right here is an example of a beautiful Italian dessert. Something that I hope generations to come will keep making! Yes, it can be time consuming, but these are made typically only for holidays such as Christmas or special occasions such as bridal showers, baby showers, or even birthdays!

These can quickly become a lost art, as the influx of Italian immigrants has passed, and that generation has sadly been aging (most of the Italian immigrants from my childhood are now well into their 80s and 90s)

And so, lets all make sure to carry on the tradition and make these delicious and gorgeous cookies!

My mom makes her cookies without alcohol, but I have provided instructions to make them either way….we prefer the non-alcoholic version!

How to Make Italian Peach Cookies (Videos)

1. Make the dough, bake the cookies, and carve out the bottoms (VIDEO)

2. Make the filling (pastry cream) (VIDEO)

3. Make the dipping syrup (flavors the cookies and gives the color) (VIDEO)

4. Building the Cookies: Dipping, filling and decorating the cookies (VIDEO)

How to Make Peach Cookies (Step by Step in Photos)

Making the cookie dough

1. Add eggs to bowl of a standing mixer
2. Add sugar to eggs
3. Whip the egg/sugar mixture for 2 minutes until light and foamy
4. Small bubbles will appear in the egg/sugar mixture
5. Add remaining ingredients (not shown; oil, flour and baking powder)
6. Combine until a very soft dough forms. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Baking and carving the cookie bottoms

1. After 2 hours of chilling dough, line baking sheets with silicone baking mat or parchment paper and form the cookies.
2. Roll the cookies into a round ball but then flatten them slightly so they are no longer in a ball shape. Dough will be very sticky so consider using cooking spray on hands to prevent sticking
3. Bake for 25 to 28 minutes until they are slightly golden; the cookies are actually slightly overbaked so that they can absorb liquid in the next step without falling apart
4. Carve the bottom of the cookie as shown using a sharp knife. Do this while the cookie is still warm as they are prone to breaking if carving when cooled.
5. Extra cookie that can be discarded
6. Store the carved cookies in a sealed container after they have cooled while you make the pastry cream and the flavored syrup. Cookies can be made a few days in advanced if stored properly (ie, sealed container)

Carving the cookies (video)

Make the pastry cream filling

1. Add milk and part of the sugar to a sauce pan and heat over medium high heat until slightly boiling
2. Prepare eggs by separating yolk from whites; we will only need the yolks (store egg whites for another use)
3. Combine sugar and cornstarch in a separate bowl, and add egg yolks
4. Whisk the eggs with the cornstarch and sugar.
5. Add about 1/3 of the hot milk to the egg mixture while whisking vigorously.
6. Return the egg mixture to the milk mixture that is on the stove.
7. Continuously whisk for 2 minutes, ensuring to scrape the sides and bottom and bottom edge of pot to prevent scorching
8. Remove from heat and add butter
9. Whisk until butter has melted (optional but highly recommended, add Peach liquor). Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate after it has cooled a bit to cool completely

Make the dipping syrup

1. Add water (1 cups of it) with sugar and heat over medium heat
2. Continue stirring until the sugar has dissolved
3. Add flavorings, including lemon and orange peel (try to minimize the white part called pith as much as possible when peeling because that part is bitter! Add cinnamon stick if you have one
4. Add jello packet
5. Add vanilla extract
6. Continue stirring and adjust color by adding red food coloring. Remove from heat and add extra cup of water to cool the mixture and dilute it a bit.
7. Optional, flavor with peach liquor

Filling and Decorating (the fun part!)

1. Find two matching cookie sizes
2. Dip in flavoring syrup (I dunk them completely three times quickly) and shake off excess. (transfer the dipping syrup to a small and deeper bowl when you start running low so dipping is easier.)
3. Fill each half of the cookie with pastry cream
4. Sandwich the two filled cookies together
5. After all the cookies have been dipped and filled let them dry in fridge for 1 or 2 hours (not shown). Then, sprinkle each cookie generously with sugar (we use a sugar shaker)
6. Place cookies in cupcake cups and add leaves. Many use mint leaves, we simply cut some from our garden. You can also uses artificial leaves from the craft store.

Variations for Peach Cookies

• Some people fill the cookies with sweetened ricotta cream
• Other people use jam with or without crushed nuts
• The dipping liquid is traditionally aklermes liquor, which is very difficult to find in the USA. I think that a non-alcoholic cookie can be eaten by more people (ie, children too!)
• A whole almond can be placed in the center of the cookie to simulate a peach pit (be careful of this if you are feeding young children or the elderly).

Top Tips for Making Peach Cookies

• My mom insists on letting the cookie dough rest for a minimum of 2 to 3 hours. She feels that the cookies rise better.
• The cookie dough is quite sticky! Use cooking spray on your hands to help handle the dough and prevent sticking.
• Remember these cookies are baked in order to be dunked in the flavoring syrup and so they’re slightly dry and overbaked, intentionally! Otherwise, they would turn to mush when you dip them.
• My mom likes to actually dip/dunk the cookies in the flavoring liquid rather than spraying on the syrup -she feels dunking the cookies imparts much more flavor and moisture.
• After dipping, let the cookies dry uncovered in the refrigerator for a few hours before sprinkling with sugar; otherwise, the sugar will simply melt away.
• Consider using small cupcake cups or liners so that more of the gorgeous peaches can be seen.

Suggested Schedule

• Day 1: make, bake, and carve the cookies. Also, make the pastry cream
• Day 2: make the dipping syrup, and then fill and decorate the cookies.