Grandma’s Italian Lemon Knots
A traditional Italian recipe, Grandma’s Lemon Knots were always my favorite cookie growing up. With bright lemon flavor, these cookies are just barely cooked for optimum moistness making them melt-in-the-mouth delicious. Yields 20-24 large cookies or 36-40 smaller cookies
Servings Prep Time
20-40cookies 10minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
8-10minutes* 1hour
Servings Prep Time
20-40cookies 10minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
8-10minutes* 1hour
Ingredients
Lemon Knots
Lemon Icing
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and powdered sugar. Set aside.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat together the vegetable oil and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes on medium high.
  3. Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing until fully combined between each addition. Add in the lemon extract and mix until combined.
  4. Add in the dry ingredients 1/3 at a time. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula between each addition. Mix until just combined–the dough should be slightly tacky. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
  5. Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet or two with parchment paper. Set aside.
  6. Lightly flour your hands and your work surface enough to handle the sticky dough without adding too much flour to it. Grab 50 gram pieces of dough and roll out into a 6″ log.* Shape the dough into a knot, tucking the ends under so that your knot is in the shape of a ball–you don’t want end pieces to stick out. Bake 8-10 minutes, checking after 8 minutes, until the bottoms are a light golden brown and the tops are just firm.** Remove from the oven and transfer immediately to a wire rack to cool.
  7. Make the icing: In a medium bowl, whisk together the sifted powdered sugar, milk, and juice from the lemons until smooth and combined.*** Allow to sit and thicken for a couple of minutes. Dip the cooled cookies into the icing and allow to drip. Place on a wire rack until the icing sets.
Recipe Notes

*I make my cookies on the large side of things.  If you want your lemon knots to be a bit smaller, roll out 30 grams of dough into 4″ logs and bake for 6-8 minutes.

**It’s very easy to overbake these so that they’re too dry.  Always check after about 8 minutes (or 6 if your knots are smaller than 50 grams).

***If you want a bit more of a kick of lemon, add some zest to the icing for extra flavor!

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