Family & Sicilian Recipes

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Every Thanksgiving, we get together with my father to make the cookies for Christmas. His kitchen fills with trays of cookies that have been part of our family for generations. Nana’s dough is the base for all of them. One simple recipe that becomes a whole assortment of Italian holiday cookies. It’s the same dough she made for as long as we can remember, and the one we still use today to keep the tradition alive.

Nana Cookies

A traditional Sicilian family cookie dough that has been used for generations to create a full assortment of holiday cookies — from S‑shapes to filled rounds, sesame fingers, lemon‑glazed cookies, and almond‑pressed rounds. This recipe comes from Nana’s kitchen and continues today through family tradition.
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Course: Snack
Calories: 110
Ingredients Method Nutrition Notes

Ingredients
  

Cookie Dough
  • 4 cups all‑purpose flour
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1½ cups Crisco keep at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1½ cups sugar
  • 3 teaspoons flavoring Vanilla, Almond, or Anise
  • 3 eggs leave out ahead of time (room temperature)
Lemon Glaze
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 3 –6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
Decoration
  • Colored nonpareil sprinkles
  • Jimmies
  • Sliced almonds for almond‑pressed rounds
  • Sesame seeds for sesame fingers
  • Maraschino cherries
  • Assorted fillings: lemon, strawberry, raspberry, mince meat

Method
 

Cream the base mixture
  1. Cream together the eggs, sugar, salt, Crisco, and your chosen flavoring until smooth and well combined.
  2. Add baking powder + half the flour
  3. Mix in the baking powder and about half of the flour until incorporated.
Fold in remaining flour
  1. Add the rest of the flour and fold gently. Do not over‑mix — the dough should be soft and workable.
Shape the cookies
  1. Use the dough to create your preferred cookie types:
  2. Roll into balls and press flat for rounds
  3. Shape into S‑cookies
  4. Roll into short “fingers” and press into sesame seeds
  5. Press sliced almonds onto rounds
  6. Roll out dough for filled cookies (lemon, strawberry, raspberry, mince meat)
  7. Shape into diamonds or other traditional forms
Bake
  1. Bake at 350°F for 10–15 minutes, or until lightly golden.
  2. (Family note: Nana’s original card says 325°F for 10 minutes — adjust based on your oven.)
  3. Cool and glaze
  4. Cool completely before glazing.
  5. For lemon glaze, whisk powdered sugar with fresh lemon juice and zest until smooth.
  6. Dip or drizzle cookies, then add sprinkles or toppings as desired.

Nutrition

Serving: 1CookieCalories: 110kcalCarbohydrates: 13gProtein: 1gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 2gSodium: 60mgSugar: 7g

Notes

  • Freshly squeezed lemon juice is non‑negotiable – store bought juice simply doesn’t taste the same.
  • Start with 3 tablespoons lemon juice and add more until the glaze is pourable but not runny.
  • Almond‑pressed cookies are traditionally not glazed – just press sliced almonds on top before baking.
  • Do not chill the dough. It needs to stay pliable or it will crack and make it unexpectedly tough, especially when shaping S‑cookies.
  • Cookies freeze well and keep beautifully for months.
 

Family Variations

Use the base dough to create the full traditional assortment:
  • S Cookies
  • Lemon‑filled cookies
  • Strawberry‑filled cookies
  • Raspberry‑filled cookies
  • Mince meat‑filled cookies 
  • Maraschino Cherry cookies
  • Sesame fingers
  • Almond‑pressed rounds
  • Round cookies
  • Diamond cookies
USE DIFFERENT SHAPES WHEN MAKING MULTIPLE TYPES TO KEEP THEM EASILY IDENTIFED

Tried this recipe?

Let us know how it was!

Bon appetitu a tutti!