Soft and chewy Italian pignoli cookies require only five ingredients, making them super easy to put together! Also, they are naturally gluten-free since they are made from almond paste and egg whites. And, of course, pine nuts, since pignoli means pine nuts in Italian!
Here is my third sweet recipe for the week, thus concluding my week of Christmas treats. For this week’s other sweet treats, check out my recipes for ricotta cannoli dip and fresh cranberry cookies!
Years ago I was looking for more Italian cookie recipes to make for Christmas, and I came across a recipe for Italian pignoli cookies. They sounded interesting, and I love trying something new, so I baked up a batch. However, that first recipe I tried only had a couple of pine nuts on top.
Not much of a pignoli cookie, yes?
It was basically an almond cookie with a little decoration. Not a bad cookie, but not what I was looking for.
A little more looking about, and I ending doing what I should have done in the first place. Which is to see if Lidia Bastianich had a recipe. 🙂 I love her cooking and she is definitely a favorite source of mine for Italian recipes.
Of course she did, and soon I had chewy, simple cookies which merited the name pignoli sitting on my cooling rack! Since these cookies were perfect already, I didn’t need to make changes to the recipe. The only difference between my recipe and hers, is that I love a little powdered sugar over the top. I think it makes them look a little more festive.
What do you think?
How do you make Italian pignoli cookies?
To make Italian pignoli cookies blend almond paste with sugar, egg whites, and orange zest. Form the dough into balls, roll in pine nuts, and bake the cookies until lightly browned.
- Break up the almond paste in a food processor.
- Add the sugar and pulse to combine.
- Add the egg whites and orange zest.
- Process to make a smooth dough.
- Roll the dough into balls and press into the pine nuts.
- Bake until golden then dust with confectioners’ sugar.
Start by putting the almond paste in the food processor and pulse until it’s broken up. You don’t want a big block of almond paste or the rest of the ingredients won’t combine properly.
Tip: Almond paste! Not marzipan. Make sure you buy the right one.
Then add the sugar and you see in the photo that it will like a bit like cornmeal once you’ve pulse the two together a few times. Now you’re going to bring it all together into a dough by adding egg whites. And orange zest for flavor!
Once you have a nice, smooth dough portion it out into 24 pieces and roll each into a ball. Roll each ball in the pine nuts on one side only. That way the pine nuts are on the top looking pretty while the bottom is smooth.
Arrange the cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 350F for about 15 minutes, or until golden.
Tip: No processor? If you have a hand mixer, add the egg whites to the bowl and, with the mixer running, add the almond paste bit by bit until it’s all combined. Then beat in the sugar and orange zest. Once you have the dough, continue with the recipe.
What is the difference between almond paste and marzipan?
There are two main differences between almond paste and marzipan.
- Sweetness – marzipan has more sugar than almond paste. Almond paste is true to its name and has almost twice the amount of almonds per ounce as marzipan.
- Texture – almond paste has a courser texture while marzipan is very smooth.
Basically, marzipan is meant to be used by itself, dyed and molded into shapes. While almond paste is meant to be used in baked goods and as fillings.
How to store pignoli cookies
Store pignoli cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for up to one week. If you need to layer the cookies on top of each other, use sheets of wax paper or parchment between each of the layers.
Can you freeze pignoli cookies?
Yes, pignoli cookies can also be frozen. To freeze pignoli cookies, set them in a single layer on a parchment or wax paper lined tray. Put them in the freezer. Once frozen, transfer them to a sealed bag or container. For best flavor, use them within 4-5 weeks.
To thaw, take them out of the container/bag and let them thaw at room temp on the counter. You can even put them in a low oven, about 250F, for a few minutes to perk them up if needed.
Christmas cookie ideas
In addition to my cranberry cookies, which I linked above, I do have a few favorite Christmas cookies here on the site.
If you love a bar cookie, I have salted chocolate bourbon pecan pie bars (which are as awesome as they sound!) and apple crisp bars with butterscotch sauce. For more traditional cookies, try my pecan snowball cookies (a perennial favorite), chocolate coated almond stuffed cookies, or my Italian ricotta cookies. No matter what, you can’t go wrong!
If you try my recipe for Italian Pignoli Cookies, I would love to hear from you in the comments with your experience and rating! And I’m happy to answer any questions you might have.
You can connect with me by subscribing to my emails (see the form in the sidebar or below the recipe card), liking my FACEBOOK page, or by following me on PINTEREST.
– Happy Baking, Annemarie
Lidia's Italian Pignoli Cookies
Ingredients
- 14-16 oz almond paste
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large egg whites
- 2 tsp orange zest
- 1 1/4 cup pine nuts
- confectioners' sugar for dusting, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Break up the almond paste a bit into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the paste has been transformed into small crumbs. Add the sugar and pulse a few more times. The almond paste will be the texture of cornmeal.
- Add the egg whites and orange zest. Process to make a smooth dough, about 30 seconds.
- Pour the pine nuts into a wide bowl. Divide the dough into 24 portions, each will be about 2 tablespoons.
- Roll each cookie into a ball and then drop it into the pine nuts so that one side of the cookie is covered in pine nuts and one side has none. Flip the cookie out of the pine nuts and onto the baking sheet so that the side with the pine nuts faces up.
- Bake for 13-15 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes and then transfer the cookies to a cooling rack.
- Once the cookies are cool, dust them with confectioners' sugar.
- Cookies will keep for up to one week.
Notes
- The nutritional information is an estimate and is included for informational purposes only. Please make your own calculations using your specific ingredients if you need an accurate calorie count.
- I include a range of amounts for almond paste since I find either 8 oz cans or 7 oz tubes, depending on which market I'm visiting. Either works just fine in the recipe.
- Make sure you use almond paste and NOT marzipan.
- Don't skip the parchment! The cookies are sticky and will stick to your baking sheet.
- Recipe adapted from Lidia Bastianich.
Roni says
These pignoli cookies are excellent! I followed the recipe exactly and they were perfect. I was concerned because of the posts that mentioned that it was difficult to handle the dough because it was too sticky. Put a little bit of flour on your hands and the problem is solved. These were excellent! Thank you Lydia
justalittlebitofbacon says
I’m glad you enjoyed them, Roni, and didn’t have trouble with shaping them.
Evan says
Love this recipe! These cookies are the closest I can get to the pignoli cookies I grew up eating in New Jersey and Brooklyn. The dough is very sticky — I don’t bother trying to roll the dough, which has felt like a losing battle every time I’ve made these. Instead, I just scoop a ball of the dough, freeform it with nimble fingers into something approximating a “ball,” and drop it into the pine nuts. It’s messy but it works. Thanks!
justalittlebitofbacon says
Great! It can be tough to recreate childhood memories again and I’m glad my recipe comes close. Thanks for the info on how you are shaping them since I’m sure there are other people with similar issues.
Michelle says
I made these for my dear Mom, an excellent cook who cooks no more because of Alzheimer’s. She could not find her recipe for me to make for Christmas like she always used to, so I found this and tried it. It went together very easily using Solo Almond Paste in a box near the pie fillings. I went with this recipe because my Mom always liked Lydia Bastianich, the ONLY change I made was to eliminate the orange zest. For me I would like that addition to her old recipe. But she never used it, she was a purist. And this is about bringing back memories. I got 35 cookies and used just about all the pignolis. Followed every other detail and they came out PERFECTLY! I will be keeping this recipe, and one day, when Mom is no longer with us, I will try the zest.
justalittlebitofbacon says
Michelle, I’m glad you could make these for your mom and bring back a few good memories for her! I do enjoy the orange zest (that bit of zip it gives the dough), but they are wonderful without it as well. 🙂
Efranklin says
i made these for the first time and it was a disaster …i am an accomplished cook and the dough felt way way too sticky. They flattened out and didnt cook in the middle and i had to cook them 2x the time listed. Normally these cookies get very hard if you cook them too much so i was really trying to not cook them more but they didnt remove from the pan and middles were raw. I had made a double batch – i used 4 tubes of Odense and doubled the sugar, egg whites – i did use extra large eggs and put them on silicone pads vs parchment. the second batch i put in the freezer for ten minutes and moved them to parchment.but it wasnt much better. i recommend lessening the egg whites by a couple of tablespoons or 1.5 per batch vs two if using large or extra large.. Or specify the size of the eggs. A shame i had to ditch all this due to bad recipe.
justalittlebitofbacon says
I feel bad this recipe didn’t work for you since I’ve made it many times and it is always spot on. However, I notice that you both doubled the recipe and used extra large egg whites. The recipe does call for large egg whites and unfortunately doubling would have made the problem worse. Also, I find it likely (though I’ve never used them) that the silicone mats insulated the cookies too much and didn’t let them set and cook through since I do know that getting the heat to the cookies quickly is important.
Michelle says
Why would you break up the almond paste? I use Solo almond “filling” all the time and it is soft and moist, very spreadable. Other recipes show the tube of firmer almond paste, not the Solo type. Just asking, so these can turn out right.
justalittlebitofbacon says
The Solo almond filling is a different product than the almond paste and you definitely want to use the almond paste. Almond filling will not work at all. I hope that helps!
Michelle says
Sorry, my mistake! When I clicked to the link to Amazon, I thought it showed the filling, not paste. Thanks🙂
Sal Romano says
Could you show us the almond paste you used ?
The solo product and Odessa products are for sale in stores and it is quite confusing.
justalittlebitofbacon says
Certainly! This is the almond paste I use. (Click the link.)
Mary says
I’ve been making Pignoli cookies for years. My recipe calls for equal amounts of powdered & granulated sugars, almond extract, no zest.
But the most important part is that I make my own almond paste, so simple and much less expensive.
march says
First recipe I tried for this type of cookie, I rarely bake. The directions were easy, I found parchment paper worked much better than silpat. It also took a few extra minutes in the oven than specified, but they came out perfect and tasted great!
justalittlebitofbacon says
I’m glad you enjoyed them! I prefer parchment as well. 🙂
Tracy says
I made a batch yesterday using a different recipe and they came out terrible. I’m going to try these today. Quick question, do I have to beat the egg whites before adding them to the almond paste? Thank you for your response.
justalittlebitofbacon says
You do not. I simply add them to the processor after I’ve worked the almond paste and sugar together.
Cathy says
I had made Lidia Bastianich’s recipe several years ago and they were perfect. But just looked at her website and her recipe is completely different than this one. She has no orange zest, and different amounts of eggs and sugar. I’m a bit confused, as I was about to make yours because I thought they were going to be the same. Any reason for the changes?
justalittlebitofbacon says
I probably should remove the link since she changed the recipe on her site. When I first posted, this was her recipe. I guess she has a couple versions!
Carol says
I have a 10 Oz can of almond paste. Do I need to change anything else for the recipe?
justalittlebitofbacon says
With that little almond paste, I would halve the recipe and then test a cookie to make sure the ratios are right.
RoseMarie says
I have previously made pignoli cookies using my Aunts recipe but I used confectioners sugar instead. I never used orange rind either. Does that take away from the taste of the almond paste. Why does the recipe call for granulated rather than confectioners sugar sugar. I do love Lidia’s recipes so I would love for you to reply to my questions.
justalittlebitofbacon says
The orange rind just gives the cookie a little extra zip. Entirely optional though! As for the sugar, I’ve seen both granulated and confectioners’ used in recipes, but I like the texture and flavor of the granulated.
Liz says
I had to reduce the size of the cookies. They were too big; not cooking all the way through. So I adjusted to 2 teaspoon size and they are perfect and delicious.
justalittlebitofbacon says
I get the feeling they are very sensitive to oven temperature so making them smaller seems to be a good idea.
Kathy DiMaggio says
I too have the same problem the dough is very “moist” so much so that it cannot be rolled into a ball. I used Odense in the tube almond past. I will add a bit of flour and see if that works.
justalittlebitofbacon says
Though I have used both tubes and cans, it seems as though cans of paste work better (maybe it’s drier?) for many people. I hope the flour helped the consistency!
Rosaria Cozzolino says
Just finished baking the pignoli cookies. They are perfect.
justalittlebitofbacon says
Great! I’m glad they worked for you. 🙂
Emmilie says
I bought only 8 oz. of Almond Paste (accidentally)… donington just cut all ingredients in half to make a lesser amount of cookies?
justalittlebitofbacon says
Yes. Halve the recipe.
EB says
Awesome. Thank you! Also, donington was meant to be “do I need to.” Autocorrect is hardly ever correct, lol.
Thanks again!
justalittlebitofbacon says
Yeah, I figured it was autocorrect ‘helping’ you. 🙂
Rachel Layman says
Same here. Baking them for a dear friend who remembers them from hrr childhood. I hope these will resemble what her grandma used to make. Just tasted first batch and these are delish.
justalittlebitofbacon says
Great! I hope your friend enjoys them too.
Camille says
I made them and they were a complete success! I used a different recipe last year and they went into the garbage.
justalittlebitofbacon says
I’m glad they worked well for you! 🙂 It’s such a simple recipe, but so good.
Donna Russell says
Made them today. They are delicious! Fortunately did not have any issues, except I needed to cook them a little longer than recommend. Freezing for next week’s family Christmas!
justalittlebitofbacon says
Great! I froze some for a Christmas party too and it was so relaxing to have them done ahead.
Sandi Hintze says
I made them today with tangerine zest. They are delightful. Chilling the dough makes it way easier to work with. The egg whites can vary in size so I started with two and added the third. For anyone that has them flatten out it might be excess moisture.
justalittlebitofbacon says
Oooh, tangerine zest sounds yummy! And I’m glad they worked for you. 🙂
Daniele says
I made today with homemade almond paste. The cookies totally flattened out. I dont know what went wrong. But the tasted amazing and my husband ate them up. Trying again in a few days.
justalittlebitofbacon says
I’m glad they were tasty even if flat! I’m wondering if the dough was a little too liquid or maybe too warm when you put them in the oven? You could try chilling the cookies before baking or adding a tablespoon of flour (gf blend if you need to keep them gf).
Cindy says
Me too! Weird cause first time I made they were perfect. Years later… runny and flat. Should I refrigerate dough? Thx! Happy baking. Cindy
justalittlebitofbacon says
Hmmm. A few things: almond paste not marzipan, right? How about the amount of pine nuts? Too few and your cookies will spread more. Also, size is important. Smaller cookies spread less than larger. I shall put retesting this recipe on my to-do list this week. (I wonder adding some powdered sugar to the mix will make them more reproducible and stable.)
Cindy says
Yes, yes, almond paste. Good tip on the amount of nuts and size. I will try tomorrow with these tips and fingers crossed. Thanks for your quick response. And I always use the Odense in the tube when I need almond paste. Do you use Solo? Thx Cindy
justalittlebitofbacon says
Cindy, I do usually use Solo and maybe that makes a difference? I’m also wondering if reducing the size of the cookies to make 30 or even 36 in a batch might make them more stable. I will be checking this out too this week, but I’m very interested to hear how your experiments go.
justalittlebitofbacon says
I feel terrible that your cookies didn’t come out. I made them again, following my recipe as written, and they were just the same as always. Since you tried making smaller cookies and using more nuts, the only variable I can think of which might cause spreading is your oven temperature/cookie sheets. Thicker cookie sheets or a cooler oven can allow the cookies to spread more. But if you’re using the same oven and same cookie sheets, that wouldn’t be it either.
Cathy | whatshouldimakefor.com says
When I worked in pastry at an Italian restaurant we made pignoli cookies for the cookie plate. They were always the first to go. I’m so happy to see your post today…a sweet reminder that I have to get these on our holiday table.
justalittlebitofbacon says
They definitely make the holiday’s sweeter. 😉 And I’m not surprised they disappeared from the cookie plate!
Julia @ HappyFoods Tube says
These pignoli cookies look delicious! The is recipe reminds me of the Spanish Almond cake (without the pine nuts). And because I could eat Italian dishes 24/7 I must check Lidia’s blog for some more Italian inspiration!
justalittlebitofbacon says
Lidia is a great inspiration for me and has been since I used to watch her PBS show many years ago.