make the cookies:
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter 2 sheet pans. Mix the flour, baking powder,
and salt together. Mix the eggs and sugar in a mixer fitted with a paddle
attachment (or using a hand mixer) until pale yellow and fluffy. With the mixer
running, drizzle in the oil, vanilla, and almond extract, and mix. Add the dry
ingredients and mix until just combined.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work
surface. Using your hands, form into logs 1 inch in diameter. Working in batches
if necessary, cut into 3/4-inch thick slices and arrange the cookies on the
sheet pans. Bake until light golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on wire
racks.
make the icing:
Whisk the milk, egg white, confectioners' sugar, and almond extract together
until smooth. Divide the icing into one large and two smaller batches. Leave the
large batch of icing white; color the two small batches to your liking.
When the cookies are cool, dip the tops into the
white icing. To drizzle the cookies with the other colors, dip the tines of a
fork into the icing and wave it over the cookies. Let set in a cool place 1
hour.
“Butter Sugar Flour Eggs” by
Gale Gand, Rick Tramonto, Julia Moskin, Clarkson N. Potter Publishers, 1999
