Best holiday cookies to try from Los Angeles bakeries

I’ve maintained my whole life that there’s no better time to visit an Italian deli than the holiday season. This is when they’re most bustling, and when the cookie case is most attractive. Walk past the towers of panettone and head to where the cookies gleam with candied cherries, glow with sprinkles or entice with almond paste. In the hall of great Italian cookies, it’s hard to beat the amaretti ai pignoli.

The chewy, gluten-free treats rely on almond paste for their nutty, soft center and egg whites for an almost meringue-like outer shell, while an onslaught of pine nuts forms a just-toasted crunchy layer atop it all. So few bakeries and restaurants make these fresh year-round in Los Angeles, but Eagle Rock Italian Bakery & Deli has been at it for more than 70 years. The team hand-makes a spread of roughly a dozen Italian and other classic deli cookies in a constant rotation throughout the day, filling the cases with rainbow cookies, macaroons and jam cookies, plus cakes, pastries and holiday specials. The pignoli, however, are always a top seller and can be purchased individually or by the pound. Try the pistachio version, which is also gluten-free, to switch things up.