Add this recipe for Lingue Di Gatto cookies (cat tongue cookies), thin and buttery Italian flat cookies to your cookie list. These cookies melt in your mouth and are so delicious. Perfect for pairing with coffee or tea.
One bite of these buttery and crisp Italian cookies and you will be hooked. These traditional Italian cookies are called Lingue Di Gatto Cookies, or cat tongue cookies because they look like a cat's tongue 🙂
They can be made as flat butter cookies or curled over a rolling pin when they are first out of the oven for a curled cat tongue appearance. I like doing a little of both.
They are super thin and really buttery (like my crumiri cookies) and one of my favorite cookies. They need to be piped on to a baking sheet (I'll give you tips at the bottom of easy ways to do this) and when they bake, they melt and flatten out into super thin cookies. They are the perfect as side to coffee or tea and great for serving at Italian holidays (and for American Halloween!)
Since these cookies are made with just the egg whites and no yolks, I like to save the yolks the day I make these and make an Italian carbonara for dinner later on.
These cookies are a gift that keeps on giving and they are so easy to make.
Ingredients Needed
- All-purpose flour
- Unsalted butter: I use room temperature unsalted butter so I can control how much salt is in the cookies.
- Kosher salt: The salt elevates buttery shortbread flavors of the shortbread.
- Egg whites: I use large eggs for this recipe.
- Granulated sugar
- Vanilla Extract
- Lemon zest
How To Make These Italian Flat Cookies
- Cream wet ingredients: In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar then add the egg whites, vanilla and lemon zest.
- Add dry ingredients: Next add the flour and salt after sifting it once on its own and again over the butter sugar mixture.
- Pipe: Fill a piping bag fitted with an ¼ inch tip (or up to ½ inch) and pipe 2 inch strips on your baking sheet.
- Bake: Bake for 10 minutes or until just lightly brown on edges.
- Curl the Cookies (optional): If you want to curl the cookies to look more like a cat tongue, scoop the cookie off of the baking sheet as soon as it comes out of the oven and place it over a rolling pin to cool.
Tips
- Curling the cookies: Making the cookies curled or bent is totally optional but really fun to do. I like having a rolling pin out to do this. To get the cookies to curl properly, they need to be scooped off of the baking sheet as soon as they come out of the oven while they are still very warm. If they stop curling and cracking when you do this, just place them back in the warm oven for 1 minute to make them more pliable.
- Piping bag and tips: If you do not have a piping bag, you can use a plastic storage bag with a tip cut off of the corner that is about ¼ inch in size.
- Don't skip the sifting: Sifting the dry ingredients elps make these cookies light and crisp so do not skip this part.
Storing
These cookies store so well on the counter after baking. I am going to be honest, they don't last more than 24 hours in my house but I did save one cookie to see how long it lasts on the counter and 1 week is totally fine.
I have not had luck freezing these cookies, probably because of the egg whites. I also tried refrigerating the dough and the cookies do not come out the same. These cookies are best to make right away, not freezing or refrigerating the dough.
More Authentic Italian Cookie Recipes!
Crisp Delicate And Buttery Lingue Di Gatto Cookies
Equipment
- hand mixer or stand mixer
- piping bag with about a ¼ wide opening round or basketweave tips are fine. If using a thin lined tip(basketweave tip), pipe the dough width wise.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup plus 3 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- ½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- ½ cup plus 3 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 3 Egg whites from large eggs
- 1 tablespoon Vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅛ teaspoon lemon zest
Instructions
Butter cookie dough
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Prepare a large baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar for 2 minutes on medium speed with a hand mixer or by hand.½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature, ½ cup plus 3 tablespoon granulated sugar
- Add vanilla and lemon zest and mix well.1 tablespoon Vanilla extract, ⅛ teaspoon lemon zest
- Add egg whites and mix well again.3 Egg whites
- In a separate large bowl, sift flour and salt.¾ cup plus 3 tablespoon all-purpose flour, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- Now sift the flour and salt again over the butter and sugar mixture then mix well until everything is well combined.
Piping
- Fill a piping bag fitted with a tip that is around ¼ inch wide (or a ziploc bag with the corner cut out).
- Pipe 2 inch strips on to the prepared baking sheet making sure to leave about 1 inch of space for the dough to spread.
- Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browning on the edges.
Making the Curled Cookies (optional)
- To curl the cookies more like a cat's tongue, as soon as they come out of the oven, remove them with a spatula and place on top of a rolling pin and gently press on it to curl around it.
Meghan says
Thank you for sharing this recipe