This morning, we started our annual Christmas Day prep. This year, our crew has grown even more. Tomorrow, we will have my in-laws, my sister’s in-laws, and even my husband’s grandmother all together for our Christmas Day meal. That meant an extra reason for even more sweet treats this Christmas!
To help with the wait for the big meal, we always take time to make some snacks to enjoy beginning Christmas Eve. I always enjoy cooking out at my parent’s house because compared to our little NYC apartment, their kitchen feels massive. Rather than making sugar cookies this year, I decided to try this lemon ricotta cookie recipe from Giada de Laurentiis. A coworker of mine made these for our team this year, and I’ve been obsessed with them ever since.
The cookies themselves weren’t hard to make, and actually do not require too many ingredients. Since they are in season, I decided to substitute in Meyer lemons. It tastes great with both kinds.
Cookies:
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 (15-ounce) container whole milk ricotta cheese
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 lemon, zested
Glaze:
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 lemon, zested
Start by preheating your oven to 375 degrees F. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
In a large bowl, combine the softened butter and sugar. Next, beat the sugar and the butter with an electric mixer until the consistency is light and fluffy (approximately 3 minutes). One at a time, add in the eggs and beat until they are mixed in. Stop the mixer and add in the ricotta cheese, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Beat to combine. Stir in the dry ingredients.
Line 2 standard baking sheets with parchment paper. Spoon the dough onto the parchment paper. Leave a bit of space around each cookie, as they will bake up quite a bit in size. Bake for 15 minutes or until the cookies are slightly golden around the edges. The recipe recommended 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie, but as the photo above shows, they really grow as they bake. I’d recommend more like 1-1.5 tablespoons.
Remove from the oven and allow your cookies to cool for around 20 minutes. I moved ours to cookie racks to speed up the cooling process. To make the icing, stir the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a small bowl until the icing reaches a smooth consistency. Spoon onto each cookie and use a knife to smooth the icing from the center outward. Don’t miss the edges!
Icing the cookies and waiting for the glaze to harden was what took the most time. The recipe recommended 2 hours, but I just let it sit as long as it took for it to set. I also have strong feelings about not skimping on icing, so I doubled the above recipe.
If you’re looking for one more thing to whip up for the table tomorrow, I give these a solid A plus.
What’s new on your menu this holiday? Or your must-bake item of the season?
These look so yummy!!! 🙂