Dancing For Cookies? Who Knew?

We've all enjoyed eating those fabulous culinary treats known as Italian Wedding Cookies.  Lightly flavored with anise, the cookies are coated with white sugar--yum! Perfect for a wedding! Italians are not only geniuses in the kitchen with pasta and sauce but desserts as well.  For those who have never tasted Italian Wedding Cookies they have an anise flavoring, that is similar to licorice. If you've tried Anisette liqueur they are similar in taste but lighter. 

It seems the Italians have managed to combine these dessert favorites with an ingenious way to get men to dance--they've blended dancing with eating cookies. They actually have a dance at weddings called The Wedding Cookie Dance.

I don't know about your husband or boyfriend, but the promise of cookies would be a sure fire way to get mine out on the dance floor! Cookie Dances...who knew? I've been to weddings where people do 'The Chicken Dance'...but never a Cookie Dance.  Given a choice, a cookie dance sounds like the better option! 

For the uninitiated and non-Italian(like me), the Italian Wedding Cookie Dance is similar to a line dance. party-goers form a long queue, similar to a conga line.  All the guests follow the bride and groom as they dance around the reception hall over to a dessert table where there is a large tall tray of Italian Cookies specially stacked up to resemble a cake just for this dance.  Each guest joins the bride, groom and their families to enjoy a delectable Italian treat of Italian Wedding Cookies. 

Cookie monster would be delighted!  So even if you can only claim a drop of Italian blood borrow this fun tradition for your wedding! Head to your local Italian bakery to find the best Italian Wedding Cookies, (unless you are Italian and Grandma is still around and willing to bake her little heart out for you.)  The real challenge comes when you have to build the cake-shaped tower of cookies, kind of the Jenga of The Sweet Table!  But you can leave that to your caterer.  There's a reason you pay them the big bucks!