Italian Lemon Ricotta Cookies are zesty little, soft cookies to please any lemon lover! The lemon in these cookies sparkles in your mouth, elevating traditional Italian Ricotta Cookies to delicious perfection.
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Italian Ricotta cookies are cakey, tender and soft. The ricotta cheese gives the cookies a soft, rich texture but the lemon lends a brightness to the flavor. While these cookies are tasty, they leave a bit to be desired in the taste area. Sweet, soft and cakey, there really are no complaints but they don’t really wow. But add a bit of lemon?? Now you are talking.
Love Italian Cookies? Check out these delicious Ricciarelli Italian Almond Cookies!
I absolutely love lemon anything, so I like to add 2 tablespoons of zest to this recipe, however customize to your liking, adding only 1 tablespoon if you prefer a lighter lemon flavor.
Sprinkles!!!
Sprinkles are a great way to bring texture and color to your baking!
If you want your cookies to wow, don’t go with the traditional rainbow Nonpareils sprinkles. Everyone puts rainbow sprinkles on Italian Ricotta Cookies….so get creative. At the holidays, go with Christmas colored sprinkles or if you really want to impress, out for gold star sprinkles. These pretty little edible gold stars will add a bit of sparkle to your delicious cookies!
Helpful Hints
- Every well stocked kitchen needs a quality zester! A good microplane will change your zesting world!
- A cookie scoop will ensure uniform size, so cookies bake evenly and look so pretty and round!
- Italian Lemon Ricotta Cookies freeze well, but sprinkles do not! They will tend to run their color into your glaze. If planning to freeze these cookies, freeze them prior to glazing and glaze and decorate prior to serving.
The lemony glaze is the crown on top of these yummy cookies! The lemon just pops in your mouth! You want the glaze to be the consistency a bit thicker than thick maple syrup to have the glaze not run off the cookie, but be thin enough to seep into the cracks and crevices.
Italian Lemon Ricotta Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ Cup Butter Softened
- 1 Cup Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1 Cup Ricotta Cheese
- 1 TBSP Vanilla Extract
- 1-2 TBSP Lemon Zest
- 2 TSP Lemon Extract
- 2 Cups Flour
- ½ TSP Baking Powder
- ½ TSP Baking Soda
Lemon Glaze
- 2-3 TBSP Milk
- 2 TBSP Fresh Lemon Juice
- ½ TSP Vanilla Extract
- 1½ Cups Confectioner's Sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and baking soda. Whisk together and set aside.
- In a stand mixer, cream together the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add in the egg, ricotta cheese, and vanilla extract. Continue to mix until well combined, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl.
- Add in the lemon zest, 1 to 2 tablespoon depending on preference. Add in lemon extract and continue mixing until well incorporated. Continue to scrape down sides of bowl.
- Add the flour mixture in small increments to the batter until completely added and well mixed in.
- Using a medium cookie scoop, create teaspoon sized balls and place 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes until edges are turning lightly golden brown. Allow to cool for 2-3 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a cooling rack to allow to cool completely.
Glazing Cookies
- In a medium bowl, combine the confectioner's sugar and vanilla extract. Add only half of the milk and lemon juice and mix. Continue to add liquid until glaze has reached desired consistency.
- Dip the cookie tops into the glaze and swirl to coat. Set cookies upright onto the wire rack and sprinkle with sprinkles.
- Store in an airtight container. I store mine in the fridge to prevent the sprinkles from running color into the glaze.
Live fully. Eat well. Bake cookies.
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These were really yummy! The only hard part was putting the glaze on the cookies. The glaze kept dripping down, and I thought it was pretty thick. Wouldn’t make again.
I am sorry that happened for you! It does take a little adjusting with the ratio of milk and powdered sugar to get to the consistency you prefer. Having the glaze be thin, but not too runny is the perfect consistency.