If you’ve never seen these cookie peach look-a-likes before you might think I invented them. As much as I’d love to let you think that, they’re actually an old traditional Italian cookie. The cookies themselves are pretty simple vanilla cookies sandwiched together and filled with a vanilla custard.

Well, normally. I changed them because I’m sure there are traditional family recipes dating back generations for these and I’m not stupid enough to try to compete with Italian grandmothers.

And to be perfectly honest, I think the traditional cookies are subtle and balanced but…well they feel a bit underwhelming to me or better suited for the types of parties that include tea sandwiches. We’re gonna cheapen them up a bit, okay?

One of the things I don’t like about the classic recipes is that the cookies aren’t peach-flavored. It reminds me a lot of marzipan. Biting into something that looks so colorful and artistic and then being met with a bland flavor (Marzipan was a source of immense disappointment several times to Childhood Me). So I added some extra schnapps and some peach extract to remedy that. Come on, wouldn’t you feel disappointed if you bit into something that looks like this and didn’t get any peach flavor?

Now, the filling is a pastry creme that requires several more ingredients and lots of simmering. It is good, don’t get me wrong. But that doesn’t seem like the most effective glue for the cookies and I’m not a huge fan of custardy fillings. If you don’t mind going the cheap American route, we’re gonna call in our old friend marshmallow fluff. I KNOW, okay? I can’t even image saying that to any Italians that grew up with these without receiving a restraining order. But hey, this is easier, and if you use almond milk in the cookies themselves like I do, marshmallow keeps these dairy-free for you or any friends that may have that restriction.

I’ve also seen even the traditional ones filled with ganache or jam instead, or it occurs to me only as I write this that I could’ve done a bourbon creme filling. Mmmm! So really just be creative and fill these however you like!

These cookies have a lot of steps, but don’t be overwhelmed. It’s mostly just the decorating. They’re not really much harder than dying Easter eggs and they taste way better.

A little note about the superfine sugar: I know it can be hard to find sometimes depending on where you live. I found mine in a normal chain store in a bottle designed to pour into drinks. It was just with the other sugars in Baking. If you can’t find any you could use granulated but they won’t look as nice. But don’t use powdered sugar. If you have the time you can beat up some granulated sugar in a food processor for a few minutes to get something similar to superfine.