Italian Ricotta Cookies
It’s time to get baking for Christmas and these are an old Italian favorite! These cookies are light and flavorful and a great addition to your cookie spread for the holidays. Feel free to play with the flavors in both the cookie and the icing with different extracts – lemon, orange, anise or whatever you like. If you’re making these ahead of the holidays, you can bake the cookies and freeze them. Thaw and then top with icing when ready to serve.
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2 sticks softened butter
- 1 ¾ cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 15 oz. ricotta cheese
- 2 Tbsp. vanilla
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
Glaze
- 4-5 Tbsp. milk
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp. lemon, orange, almond, anise or vanilla extract
- sprinkles for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs, ricotta cheese and vanilla; mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and baking soda. Slowly add flour mixture to the large bowl with creamed butter and mix well. Place teaspoon-sized balls onto a cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
- For the glaze, whisk together milk, powdered sugar and extract. Dip the tops of the cookies into the glaze or drizzle the glaze overtop and place back on the wire rack. Top with sprinkles before the icing hardens.