Favorite Ingredients Friday for September 7

This week's theme for Favorite Ingredients Friday is Italian recipes. I have lots of recipes for Italian-type main dishes, but I thought it would be fun to share a cookie recipe. So here it is:

ITALIAN CHOCOLATE COOKIES

3 eggs
1 1/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup chocolate chips, melted
1/2 cup cold, strong coffee
Grated zest of 1 lemon
Grated zest of 1 orange
4 1/2 cups flour
2 Tablespoons unsweetened baking cocoa
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
Pinch of salt
1 cup toasted almonds OR walnuts, chopped

FROSTING:
3/4 pound confectioners sugar
3 Tablespoons unsweetened baking cocoa
2 Tablespoons vanilla
2 Tablespoons butter, softened
Approximately 1/4 cup milk

For cookies, beat the eggs, sugar and oil together. Add the melted chocolate, the coffee, and lemon and orange zests. Sift together the dry ingredients. Stir the sifted ingredients and the nuts into the first mixture. Chill the dough in the refrigerator until firm, for several hours or overnight.

When ready to bake cookies, preheat oven to 325º. Then shape the dough into balls about the size of a walnut and bake them on parchment-lined cookie sheets for about 15 minutes. Remove cookies to wire racks to cool. When cool, frost the cookies.

To make frosting, stir the sugar and cocoa together, then add the vanilla and butter and mix well. Add 1/4 cup milk (may add more if necessary) and beat until smooth and of spreading consistency.

Yield: About 75 cookies

I found these delicious Italian cookies in a cookie cookbook years ago. I’ve made these a number of times for international-themed meals and have had folks of Italian ancestry tell me these are “the real thing”!