You'll love these Italian Jam Cookies, known as "pizzicati," which means pinched! These delicious cookies feature slightly crispy shortbread on the outside, and sweet, strawberry jam inside. Orange zest provides a bright, refreshing accent!
Add these pizzicati cookies to your holiday baking list, pronto. We tested and tweaked them over and over to achieve the best flavor and texture!
They'll look beautiful on your cookie tray, along with these Italian sprinkle cookies and these delicious tri-color cookies.
Recipe ingredients
Jam: We love strawberry jam cookies, so that's my go-to flavor for pizzicati. But you could use raspberry, apricot or fig jam instead.
I don't recommend using jelly, because it has a thinner texture and melts more during baking, potentially leaking out. I wouldn't use preserves either, because they contain bigger chunks of strawberries and didn't seem sweet enough during our testing.
Butter: These Italian shortbread cookies rely on butter for a tender, crumbly texture and rich flavor. Use salted butter that's softened so it's easy to mix. If you use unsalted butter, you'll need to slightly increase the salt in the dough.
Orange Zest: This brings the X-factor to these Italian pinch cookies, so don't skip it! Other versions we tried seemed bland, so we were looking for the perfect accent.
My son recalled how delicious strawberry jam and orange zest taste in one of my mom's delicious cakes. I knew we had to give the combo a try.
Bingo! My mom steered us in the right direction all the way from heaven. Thanks, Mom!
Corn Starch: Most pizzicati recipes call for corn starch in the dough to enable the cookies to keep their shape and not spread too much. It also helps shortbread to be tender, delicate and melt in your mouth.
But some recipes use way too much, producing dry, bland results. So, we tested these jam-filled Italian cookies until we found just the right amount of cornstarch to include.
The result? Sturdy, yet delicate cookies with butter flavor shining through.
Salt: Cookies turn out bland when they don't include enough salt. We carefully tweaked the amount here to achieve the best flavor!
How to make Italian jam cookies
See the card at the end of this post for the full recipe, but here's an overview.
Make the dough
- Sift together the dry ingredients.
- Add the butter, egg, zest and flavoring and combine with a fork.
- Once everything is incorporated and crumbly, use your hands to form into a dough.
- Wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate.
Roll, cut, fill and pinch the dough
- Roll the dough out ⅛-inch thick and cut out 2 ½-inch circles using a cookie cutter (affiliate link) or the mouth of a glass.
- Place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and add a dot of jam to the center of each circle.
- Pinch the sides of the circle closed over the jam and seal it shut with some water on your fingertips.
- Bake until golden on the bottom. Cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Recipe tips
- Chill the dough so it's easier to work with.
- Use just a scant teaspoon of jam inside each cookie, so it doesn't overflow during baking.
- Don't over-bake these cookies, or the dough will become dry.
Frequently asked questions
Store jam cookies at room temperature in a sealed container for up to 3-4 days. Separate the layers with wax paper so the cookies don't stick together.
Yes, you can freeze pizzicati without dusting them with powdered sugar. Like other Christmas jam cookies, they need to be cooled and layered between parchment paper or wax paper and frozen in an airtight container. Thaw them, then sprinkle on powdered sugar.
Italian pizzicati cookies and Polish kolaczki cookies look similar, but are not made with the same dough. Pizzicati recipes use shortbread dough, while kolazcki recipes call for cream cheese dough.
More cookie recipes like this
- Italian Amaretti Cookies
- Italian Pignoli Cookie Recipe
- The Best Pizzelle Cookies
- Lemon Pizzelle Recipe
- Almond Biscotti Cookies
Enjoy!
If you try this Italian Jam Cookies recipe, please leave a comment and a rating!
Italian Jam Cookies (Pizzicati)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (Measure by scooping it, then leveling the measuring cup with a knife.)
- ½ cup + 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar (plus more for dusting)
- ¼ cup corn starch
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons orange zest (from 1 large orange)
- 8 Tablespoons salted butter (softened)
- 1 extra-large egg (at room temperature)
- 1 ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup strawberry jam
Instructions
- One hour ahead of time, set out 8 tablespoons of butter and one egg to let them come to room temperature.
- Sift the flour, powdered sugar, corn starch, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl. (I place a large, fine-mesh strainer over the bowl, add the dry ingredients to the strainer and gently shake it to sift the contents.) Add the orange zest and stir with a fork to combine.
- Add the softened butter, room-temperature egg and vanilla to the bowl. Combine with a fork until crumbly. Then use clean hands to gather the mixture onto a clean, lightly floured surface. Gently knead the pizzicati dough briefly, just until it's soft, smooth and holds together. It will be slightly sticky. If it's too sticky to work with, you can add a little extra flour.
- Gather the dough into a ball and wrap it with plastic wrap. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Cut the chilled dough in half. Roll out one of the dough halves on a lightly floured surface until it's ⅛-inch thick. Cut out 2 ½-inch circles using a cookie cutter or the mouth of a glass. Place the circles in a single layer on one of the lined pans.
- Add a scant teaspoon of jam to the center of each circle. Grasp the left and right sides of each circle, bring them together over the jam and pinch them closed. Dip your fingers in a little cool water, then pinch the dough closed again with damp fingers to seal each cookie so it won't open during baking.
- Position the pinched, unbaked cookies about 1 inch apart on the prepared baking pan. Bake the pizzicati on the center rack of the oven for 11-13 minutes, just until the bottoms are golden brown. The tops will still look pale. Don't overbake, or the cookies will become dry. Let them cool on a wire rack, then dust with powdered sugar.
- While the first pan is baking, you can roll, cut, fill and pinch the remaining dough. Bake the second pan of Italian jam cookies as before.
- Serve the cookies cooled and dusted with powdered sugar. Store extras in a sealed container at room temperature for 3-4 days. Separate the layers inside with wax paper to prevent sticking. You also could freeze the pinched cookies (without dusting them first) between layers of wax paper or parchment paper in a sealed container for up to three months.
Notes
Nutrition
(Recipe Source: Cooking with Mamma C)
Comments
No Comments