Italian Lemon Knot Cookies

( Algerina Perna, The Baltimore Sun / November 28, 2012 )

Josephine DiNenna of Baltimore County submitted this tangy recipe, which she got from her parents, who brought it with them from Italy. Our testers thought these would be particularly good with tea and enjoyed the “old-fashioned flavor,” which was spot on, as DiNenna is, as she noted in her email to us, “97 years young” and a longtime baker.

Makes: About 30 cookies

For the dough:

3 cups of all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon of baking powder rounded

1 cup of granulated sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 eggs large

1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract

sprinkles (optional)

For the lemon frosting:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, softened

2 lemons

To make the cookies, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour and baking powder. Beat together sugar and butter. Add eggs, one at a time; then add vanilla. Mix together with your hands; it should look like cornmeal until the dough is fully mixed together.

Take the size of a golf ball of dough. Roll the dough into ropes. Cut each rope into a 5-inch piece and tie like a knot or make a horse shoe shape and twist them over. Bake cookies on a ungreased cookie sheet about 12 to 15 minutes. Cookies should be set but not brown.

To make the frosting, in a bowl, stir together the confectioner's sugar, butter and lemon juice. Dip top of cooled cookies in the glaze. Place cookies on a wire rack and top with colored sprinkles (optional). Allow the icing to dry before storing. These cookies will stay fresh in an airtight container for about a week, or freeze them.