Cookies, Weddings and Dancing

No Italian wedding is complete without some of those delicious cookies that the Italians are well known for.  Italian Wedding Cookies are light and fluffy round cookie balls coated in white and flavored with Anise. For any of you who are not familiar with this traditional Italian flavoring, Anise is like licorice. Or you may have had Anisette liquor as an after dinner aperitif. Italian Wedding Cookies are traditionally flavored with Anise which sets them apart from all other traditional wedding cookies.

But in addition to consuming those goodies there's also the tradition of the Wedding Cookie Dance.  The cookies are built up into a cake and set up in the middle of the dance floor. With the bride and groom leading the dance off, everyone dances around the cookie/cake table and takes a cookie. This traditional wedding cookie dance originated in Italy but has become increasingly popular at Italian Weddings in the United States. And the fun thing about the Italian Wedding Cookie dance is that even if you can’t dance, you can still bounce around the table and eat a cookie!

Italian Wedding Cookies are sold year round so you can buy prepackaged ones at almost any supermarket. It might take a bit of patience to build one into a cake, but if you can buy the cookies you can build the cake. At least you don’t have to spend hours in the kitchen baking the cookies!