Italian Ricotta Cookies – A Christmas Tradition
Many, many years ago my mom participated in a cookie exchange at her office. As a true cookie connoisseur, the Christmas cookie exchange was one of my favorite days of the year. She brought home a tin filled with dozens of deletable treats. But my hands-down favorite were the simple, traditional. Italian ricotta cookies.
How I loved those bite-sized cakey cookies!
Why you’ll love them
Italian ricotta cookies are soft and tender cake-like cookies They have a hint of lemon from lemon juice and lemon zest that makes them taste fresh and light. And the ricotta provides a rich depth of flavor. Finally, the simple glaze finishes off the cookies with a sweet touch.
Ricotta cookies are easy to make. The dough comes together quickly, and after a quick chill in the refrigerator they are ready to bake. They can be a bit sticky, but of you use a cookies scoop coated with nonstick cooking spray, it’s easy to drop these little cookies onto the tray.
This recipe for ricotta cookies makes a big batch, about sixty cookies depending on how big you make them. This makes it perfect for gifting, parties, and cookie exchanges!
I like to keep my Italian ricotta cookies small, because I love a bite-size cookie. The smaller the cookie, the more cookies you can have.
How to make Italian Ricotta Cookies:
Strangely enough . . . as much as I loved those ricotta cookies my mom brought home, it was decades before I tried making them myself. But a few years ago, after learning that my brother loved these cookies as much as I did, I decided to give them a try.
And ricotta cookies are surprisingly easy to make, even for beginners.
Cookies:
To begin, whisk together 3 ½ cups flour, 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder and ¾ teaspoon salt in a mixing bowl until combined. Set aside the dry ingredients.
Then, in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment whip together 1 cup butter, 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon lemon zest until pale and fluffy. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl occasionally throughout the mixing process. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can use a hand mixer.
Mix in 15-16 ounces ricotta. You want the short container but different brands contain different amounts, but don’t worry about that. Just use the whole container. One ounce won’t make a difference (I told you this was an easy recipe). You also want to add 1 tablespoon lemons juice, and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract at this time. Then add 2 eggs, one at a time, blending until combined.
Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add in the flour mixture. Mix just until combined.
Cover your bowl with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.
During last 20 minutes of dough chilling, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line 4 baking sheets with parchment paper. If you only have two baking sheets, no worries. Just work in batches.
Scoop the chilled ricotta cookies dough out 1 tablespoon at a time and shape into balls (if it’s too sticky just drop onto sheet using two spoons or a cookie scoop coated with cooking spray), drop onto your baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake Italian ricotta cookies in a preheated oven until set, about 12 – 14 minutes. The bottoms will be a light golden brown. Cool on baking sheet several minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Once cool, spoon icing over cookies and return to wire rack, immediately add sprinkles if using.
Allow icing to set at room temperature. Store in an airtight container in a single layer and preferably store in the fridge. Bring to room temperature before serving.
Glaze:
In a medium mixing bowl, s whisk together 1 tablespoon melted butter, 3 ½cups of powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 4 tablespoons milk until smooth.
Add in more milk 1 teaspoon at a time to thin as needed, but this glaze should be thick so it doesn’t run off the cookies.
Enjoy!
I often make this recipe sugar free. I use Splenda in place of the sugar in the cookie recipe and Swerve confectioner’s sugar in the glaze.
Ricotta cookies are delicious with a cup of tea or coffee. I love them as an afternoon snack with an espresso.
The dough can be made ahead and frozen. These ricotta cookie also freeze well, but I prefer freezing them before I glaze them. I’ve found that if you freeze sprinkles, they tend to run when they thaw.
If you love cookies as much as I do, you might also love my Chocolate Chip Snowball cookies or my Chocolate Thumbprint cookies.
Off we go!
Italian Ricotta Cookies – A Christmas Tradition
Equipment
- Mixing bowls
- spatula
- Parchment
- Cookie Sheets
- Cookie Scoop
Ingredients
Cookies
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 15-16 oz ricotta whole milk or fresh
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 large eggs
Icing
- 1 tbsp butter melted
- 3 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 – 6 tbsp milk
Instructions
Cookies:
- In a mixing bowl whisk together 3 ½ cups flour, 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder and ¾ teaspoon salt until combined. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment whip together 1 cup butter, 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon lemon zest until pale and fluffy. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl occasionally throughout the mixing process.
- Mix in 15-16 ounces ricotta, 1 tablespoon lemons juice, and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract. Then add 2 eggs, one at a time, blending until combined.
- Set the mixer on low speed and slowly add in the flour mixture. Mix just until combined.
- Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill 2 hours or up to 2 days.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees during last 20 minutes of dough chilling.
- Scoop chilled dough out 1 tablespoon at a time and shape into balls (if it’s too sticky just drop onto sheet using two spoons or a cookie scoop coated with cooking spray), drop onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake in a preheated oven until set, about 12 – 14 minutes. Bottoms will be a light golden brown. Cool on baking sheet several minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once cool spoon icing over cookies and return to wire rack, immediately add sprinkles if using.
- Allow icing to set at room temperature. Store in an airtight container in a single layer and preferably store in the fridge. Bring to room temperature before serving.
Glaze:
- In a mixing bowl whisk together 1 tablespoon melted butter, 3 ½cups of powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 4 tablespoons milk until smooth.
- Add in more milk 1 teaspoon at a time to thin as needed, but this glaze should be thick.
Notes
These cookies are perfect for gifting.
If you want to bake ahead, you can freeze the unglazed cookies for up to 3 months. Before serving bring them to room temperature and glaze and decorate. (You can freeze glazed cookies, but if you use sprinkles they may run from the moisture.)
