Do you know what the #1 search term is that brings you to this site? I was a little shocked to find this out.

It’s “Italian Sand Cookies.”

It’s one of my favorites, and I make them nearly every year. But that got me thinking: is there a difference between Italian Sand Cookies and Italian Butter Cookies? Because Italian Sand Cookies isn’t exactly a popular term, and I’m such a word nerd that I wanted to investigate this. This would be where the Christmas cookie baker side of me and the writer side of me intersects.

Long story short: I have to do more research. And I love research.

More on that tomorrow.

Italian Butter Cookies

• 1 c. butter at room temperature
• 2/3 c. sugar
• 1/4 t. salt
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 t. vanilla
• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• milk
• 6 oz. milk chocolate
• raspberry jam
• sprinkles

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Cream together butter, sugar, and salt with a hand mixer (it’s easier to control).
3. Add egg yolks and vanilla extract, mixing well afterwards. Add flour and mix.
4. Dough will be crumbly. Add milk a tablespoon at a time and mix until dough is the consistency of thick cake batter or buttercream. It should not form a ball in the bowl.
5. Load your pastry bag with the dough, making sure to have a large open star tip on the bag.
6. Pipe 2 inch ovals with inner edges touching on the pan.
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes, being sure not to over bake. Cookies are done when edges are golden brown.
8. Once cooled, find matching pairs of cookies and turn them over. Spread a small amount of raspberry jam on the bottom of one of the cookies in the pair and place the other cookie on top. You won’t need a lot of jam; way less than you think.
9. Melt 6 oz of milk chocolate in a bowl and either dip the end of the cookie sandwich in the melted chocolate or use a spoon to drizzle chocolate on the end.
10. Top with jimmies.

I filmed a TikTok of this recipe today, and it’s amazing how 1 minute of footage takes over an hour to create. Or maybe it’s not supposed to. Yeah, it’s probably not, and here’s why:

On TikTok, everything is supposed to look great. And I think today it did, for the most part.

But in real life, things are messy. Things don’t go according to plan. Large open star piping tips can look a lot like other kinds of large star piping tips.

And once you figure this out, it takes some time for your hand to return to normal. And then, it takes a pan and a half of piped cookie dough to figure out the best way to pipe the dough out. So you take the previously piped and ugly almost-cookies off the parchment paper, and throw it back into the pastry bag.

And let’s just say you do this twice, because of the whole issue with the kinds of tips you were using to begin with.

TikTok did not see this side of things.

Consider yourselves fortunate.

But on the upside, it makes the dough in the pastry bag warmer than it was to start, which makes it easier to force through a large open star tip.

I’m all about the silver linings.

Tomorrow though, I finish my research into the Sand/Butter Cookie, and what exactly the Italians know about the controversy. My dissertation will be through. And delicious.