This peach cookie recipe is the perfect way to surprise the guests at your afternoon party or get together.
It features tender cookies which are filled with jam, dipped in some food coloring and rolled in generous amounts of sugar.
Making them can be a bit tricky so I’ve included a bunch of handful tips to guide you along the way.
The goal here is to make the peach cookies resemble real peaches.
The Best Peach Cookies Recipe
Growing up I used to eat a whole bunch of these peach cookies whenever my Bulgarian grandma was around. Later I learned that they actually originate from Italy and are more popular as Italian peach cookies but we’ve always just called them “peach cookies”.
Being inquisitive, I asked grandma to teach me how she made them when I became old enough.
Little did I know that these simple cookies required quite a bit of effort to pull off.
Most of it came from the fact that the cookies can easily crack if the dough you work with is warm.
That’s why the dough I’m using when I’m making this recipe is always chilled.
Another part that can easily trip you up is carving out the cookies. The key here is to leave the cookies to cool off for only a few minutes before carving.
If you manage to get these two steps right, you’ll smooth sail your way through the rest of this recipe.
Ingredients
- Flour – You’ll need three cups of all-purpose flour to make the cookie dough.
- Food Coloring – A few drops of yellow and red food coloring will turn these cookies into life-like peaches. I’ve tried making them with natural food coloring but they turned out really pale. So it’s best to use artificial coloring.
- Sugar – The cookies are rolled in sugar after they’re baked for extra sweetness.
- Jam – I prefer using peach jam for the filling, but you can use any type of jam that has a fine consistency. The one I used for the cookies in the photos is rose hip jam since its sour notes also work well in this recipe.
- Mint or Basil Leaves – A handful of mint leaves are used to decorate the cookies. You can also use boxwood leaves if you can find them. For the ones you see in the photos I used boxwood leaves. In any case, warn your guests if the leaves are not edible.
- Ammonium Bicarbonate – Ammonium bicarbonate serves as the main source of leavening for the cookies.
Instructions to make
Check out the recipe card at the end of this article for detailed, step-by-step instructions.
For the dough
Start by beating the eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla extract with a hand mixer. Keep mixing until all the ingredients are well combined, then add a cup of the flour and the salt.
Continue to mix until the dough begins to thicken, then dissolve the ammonium bicarbonate in the yogurt and add it to the dough.
Leave the dough in the fridge for an hour and a half to rest, then combine it with the remaining flour using a wooden spoon.
After your dough is fully mixed up, you should let it rest once again, but this time for only half an hour.
For assembling the cookies
Scoop some of the batter using a one inch diameter cookie scoop such as this one.
Afterwards, roll the dough with the palm of your hands so that it turns into a ball.
Arrange the dough balls on a baking tray with about an inch of space between them and bake for 12 to 14 minutes in an oven preheated to 300°F (150°C).
Take the cookies out of the oven and let them rest for 5 minutes. After the cookies have cooled down, start carving out their center with a paring knife.
Fill the cookies with half a tablespoon of the jam and start joining them together.
Once you’ve joined all the cookies, dip them in the food coloring and roll them in the sugar.
Finish by decorating the cookies with the mint leaves.
Tips and tricks
- Make the cookies ahead of time – Even though it’s tempting to munch on these cookies while they’re still warm, they typically have the best flavor after a day or two.
- Carve the cookies while they’re warm – If you wait for the cookies to completely cool down before carving them, there’s a high chance they’ll start to crack.
- Refrigerate the dough – Make sure you leave the dough back in the fridge when you’re done with a batch of cookies. This will minimize the chance of cracking.
Try these next
If you’re into baking cookies you may also enjoy my guide on troubleshooting Spritz cookies.
And if you just want some ideas for great desserts in general I recommend checking out these articles:
- Butter Free Vanilla Cupcakes With Vanilla Frosting – these are fluffy, moist cupcakes where I omitted the butter in both the frosting and the cupcakes themselves.
- Egg Free Brownie Mix Brownies in the Microwave – just a quick way to make fudgy brownies with cocoa and chocolate chunks that do not contain eggs.
- Recipe Ideas for Fast Desserts – a compilation of recipe ideas for quick desserts.
- Recipe Ideas for Sour Cherry Dessers – a compilation of recipe ideas for desserts made with sour cherries.
- Recipe Ideas for Egg Free Desserts – a round up post of recipe ideas for desserts that do not use eggs.
↑ Click stars to rate now!
The Best Peach Cookies Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Tsp Cookie Scoop by Fayomir
Ingredients
- 1 egg large
- 1 cup sugar 1/2 for the dough + 1/2 for decoration
- 1/2 cup yogurt
- 1 tsp ammonium bicarbonate
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil and a little extra for greasing the cookie scoop
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup jam I'm using rose hip jam but anything that's slightly sour will work
- Food coloring yellow and red
- Mint leaves alternative: basil leaves, boxwood leaves which are non-edible but look good
Instructions
- Beat the eggs and sugar with a hand mixer over high.
- Switch your mixer to low, then add the oil and vanilla extract.
- Add a cup of flour and the salt, and keep mixing on low.
- Dissolve the ammonium bicarbonate in the yogurt and pour it over the dough. Make sure you wait for the yogurt to foam before adding it to the dough.
- Let the dough rest in the fridge for an hour and a half.
- Take out the dough and slowly mix in the remaining flour with a wooden spoon or a spatula. The dough should have a sticky and pliable consistency.
- Let the dough rest for half an hour in the fridge.
- In the meantime, preheat your oven to 300°F (150°C).
- Take out the dough and start forming the cookies. Scoop a teaspoon of the batter with a greased cookie scoop and shape it in the form of a ball.
- Arrange the cookies on a baking tray and bake on the middle rack of your oven for 12 - 14 minutes. The cookies should be slightly pinkish when they're ready.
- Leave the cookies to cool down on a wire rack for five minutes.
- Carve out the center of the cookies with a paring knife.
- Take out the rest of the dough from the fridge and repeat the same process. You should be able to make 4 batches of roughly 20 peach cookies each.
- Fill the carved-out cookies with jam and splice them together.
- Dip each peach cookie in the yellow food coloring, then half of it in the red one. Leave the cookies on a piece of kitchen paper for a few seconds after dipping, then roll them in the sugar.
- Decorate the cookies by placing a mint leaf in between each cookie.
Notes
- You should always leave the dough back in the fridge after you're done with a batch of cookies. If the dough becomes warm, there's a chance the cookies will crack during baking.
- Baking the cookies at a lower temperature will ensure that their texture remains intact.
- Start carving out the cookies while they're still a bit warm. This will prevent them from cracking.
- Make the cookies ahead of time for optimum flavor.
- When carving leave some space around the edge so that the cookies can stick. See in the photos how much I left for guidance.
- You can use the breadcrumbs of the carving for making a cheesecake or other sweets that require breadcrumbs.
↑ Click stars to rate now!
Nutrition
I do my best to provide you with the nutritional information for recipes but I'm not a certified nutritionist. The nutritional information provided should only be treated as an estimate since it will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.