for Easter Ingredients 3 eggs 3 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup canola oil 3 tsp baking powder Zest and juice of one lemon + 1/3 cup lemon juice for glaze 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 cups icing sugar Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour and baking powder. Set aside. In a mixer, cream together eggs and granulated sugar. Add in oil, lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla and combine. Add in flour mixture and mix together until smooth. Remove the dough from your bowl and using a cookie (ice cream) scoop or tablespoon, scoop out your cookies. You can roll them into classic ball shapes or into twists. For the balls: scoop them out and roll them in your palms quickly to make them smooth. You don’t want a rough or cracked top – a smooth cookie means a smooth, perfect glaze coating later. For the twists: scoop out the same amount as you would have for the balls. Roll out a rope of dough and form a “U” shape. Holding the loop end in one hand and the loose ends in the other, twist the cookie rope together twice. If you turn from the top loop, you’ll find the twist comes out better. Press the loose ends together to make sure the twist holds during baking. This twisted shape is common, particularly at Easter for the same reason we braided Easter bread loaves Bake for 15-17 minutes, turning the cookie sheet half way through. This recipe makes approximately four dozen. Now it’s time for the festive decorations. All these cookies get iced with a simple glaze. Mix together 2 cups of icing sugar and 1/3 cup lemon juice. You can make it thicker or thinner as you like by adjusting the amount of liquid. The twists get a quick dip or drizzle along their tops. For the balls, dip the tops in the glaze and adorn as you see fit. On the left side of the photo are the two classic ways Nonna will decorate: with multicoloured sprinkles or with one silver ball sprinkle right on the top (usually done for this cookie when made with anise flavouring). I’ve seen them sprinkled on just about every dessert and even baked bread. I’m not sure what the allure is but all I know is when you are at an event and you see a cookie (or otherwise) with this tiny rainbow of colours, rest assured, Nonna made it. So take one of those cookies!! For this Easter I set about finding some Easter colours and used “flake” sprinkles and coloured the icing to keep with the pastel themes for Easter.