Spumoni Cookies

For those of you not familiar, Spumone (or Spumoni for plural) is a molded Italian gelato that is usually made with three different flavors, colors and mixed dried fruit and nuts. Typically the flavors are chocolate, cherry and pistachio. It’s sort of a spin-off of Neapolitan ice cream which is strawberry, chocolate and vanilla. Spumone happens to be my all-time favorite Italian dessert. I can’t get enough of it. It’s one of the main reasons why I go to Italian restaurants and if it’s on the menu, then you better believe I’ll be ordering it. These Spumoni Cookies are an ode to that gelato dessert and I can’t stress enough just how much I love them. Give them a try!

This is a basic sugar cookie dough recipe, but then we’re going to split it and flavor it in three different ways. Let’s start with the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk or sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Stir in the egg and vanilla until well-combined.

**Note: You can do this with a machine, of course if you have one, but it’s easy enough to do it the good ol’ fashion way…with a little bit of elbow grease.**

Add the dry ingredients and blend until the dough comes together and there are no longer flour streaked through, being careful to not over-mix at this point.

Divide the dough evenly between 3 bowls. At this point we’re going to flavor each dough to give us that spumoni look and taste from our one cookie dough base, which is what makes this recipe so easy to make since we don’t have to make three separate doughs.

To make the chocolate dough, add the cocoa powder, hazelnut liqueur and chocolate chips to one bowl and stir until well combined.

**Tip: The hazelnut liqueur is optional, but I recommend it because it really brings out that rich chocolate flavor. You can also swap it out for instant espresso powder if you’d like.**

To make the cherry dough, add the flour, chopped cherries, and red food coloring to the second bowl and blend until well combined.

**Tip: If you really want to bring out the cherry flavor even more, you can add a teaspoon of cherry liqueur if you happen to have some on hand.**

To make the pistachio dough, add the pistachios and green food coloring to the last bowl of dough and blend until well combined.

To shape the cookies, portion out a rounded teaspoon of each dough and press together to form a ball. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, lining them up as you continue to shape the rest of the cookies until all the dough is used up.

Once all the cookies have been shaped, chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour. This will prevent the cookies from spreading too much during baking.

**Note: At this stage you can freeze on the baking sheet until solid, and then transfer to a large freezer bag and store there until ready to bake. Then just bake off a few at a time as you need them!**

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place about six or eight cookies on each baking sheet and bake until lightly golden brown around the edges, about 10 to 12 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool 5 minutes on the pan before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining cookies.

Once the cookies have cooled, you can serve and enjoy them or you can transfer to an airtight container and store at room temperature for up 3 days. 

If you’re not a fan of food coloring, you can simply omit them and not have the vibrant colors in the cookies, they’d still taste great! 

If you’ve never had spumoni ice cream before, run don’t walk, over to the grocery store and pick up a carton of it asap. Then once you devour the container, you can make these cookies and swoon over these as well. Or if you want to really take things over the top, make these spumoni cookies and fill them with spumoni ice cream to make the ultimate spumoni ice cream cookie sandwiches. BOOM.

Spumoni Cookies

Super easy homemade chocolate, cherry and pistachio cookie doughs are smashed and baked together to make these deliciously irresistible Spumoni Cookies!

Servings 2 1/2 dozen

Prep Time 1 hour hr

Cook Time 12 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 12 minutes mins

Ingredients

Main Dough:

• 2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 large egg room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Dough:

• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons hazelnut liqueur optional
• 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Cherry Dough:

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup chopped maraschino cherries
• 4 to 6 drops red gel food coloring

Pistachio Dough:

• 1/3 cup finely chopped pistachios
• 4 to 6 drips green gel food coloring

Instructions

• In a large bowl, whisk or sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
• Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Stir in the egg and vanilla until well-combined. Add the dry ingredients and blend until the dough comes together and there are no longer flour streaked through, being careful to not over-mix at this point. Divide the dough evenly between 3 bowls.
• To make the chocolate dough, add the cocoa powder, hazelnut liqueur and chocolate chips to one bowl and stir until well combined.
• To make the cherry dough, add the flour, chopped cherries, and red food coloring to the second bowl and blend until well combined.
• To make the pistachio dough, add the pistachios and green food coloring to the last bowl of dough and blend until well combined.
• To shape the cookies, portion out a rounded teaspoon of each dough and press together to form a ball. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, lining them up as you continue to shape the rest of the cookies until all the dough is used up. Chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Place six or eight cookies on each baking sheet and bake until lightly golden brown around the edges, about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool 5 minutes on the pan before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining cookies. Enjoy!

Author: The Candid Appetite