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Italian Ricotta Cookies are soft, cake-like little cookies with lovely flavor and a tasty icing on top! They are easy to make and perfect for any holiday – especially Christmas!
Looking for more Christmas cookie ideas? Try my buttery Spritz cookies recipe, these easy gingerbread cookies or these classic snowball cookies.
If you’ve never had Italian Ricotta Cookies before, it’s definitely a cookie you need to try. It’s funny because if you haven’t had one before, it’s hard to imagine what they would taste like. I mean, does it taste like cheese? Nope!
These cookies actually have a very light, yet wonderful flavor to them. They are very vanilla, but these also have a little lemon zest as well, giving them a wonderfully refreshing flavor. And then with their cake-like texture, it’s like eating tasty little pillows!
I seriously couldn’t stop eating these. They are far too addicting! It’s probably good the recipe makes quite a few. You’ll snag several before these even make it onto your cookie tray – and that will be ok!
These cookies contain ingredients you should mostly have on hand with a couple exceptions.
- All purpose flour
- Baking soda – Some recipes use a combination of baking soda and baking powder, but I must prefer all baking soda. I generally prefer that in cookies and it definitely applies here. I find that it gives a more moist and tender cookie that stays softer for longer. I find that adding in baking powder makes them more dense, which I don’t prefer.
- Salt, Vanilla extract – For Flavor.
- Butter, Eggs, Sugar
- Lemon Zest – While you could leave this out, the cookie flavor might be a little dull without it. The cookies taste ever so slightly of lemon. It’s not super obvious, but it’s there and very tasty!
- Ricotta cheese – As I said before, these cookies don’t taste like cheese. But the ricotta does lend a light flavor to the cookies and adds to their texture, making them moist and soft.
These cookies are simple and straight forward to make, which is great during a busy holiday season!
- Cream your butter and sugar together. You want to do this for 3-4 minutes. You’ll actually notice the change in color and texture. This step helps add air to the cookie dough that’s important for your cookies to rise properly.
- Add your eggs one a time. Adding them one at a time helps them incorporate evenly.
- Time for the vanilla extract and Ricotta cheese. Mix them into the cookie dough until well combined.
- Dry ingredients. Add them to the mix and mix together just until combined. Don’t over mix or you could end up with tough cookies.
- Scoop out your cookies and bake them. You could refrigerate the dough if you want to make it ahead, but you don’t need to. The cookies bake great either way. Just be sure to scoop out balls that are no larger than one tablespoon or the cookies could end up spreading too much.
- Make the icing. It’s a simple combination of powdered sugar, milk, butter and vanilla extract. Just whisk it all together!
- Dip the cookies in the icing and add sprinkles! Turn the cookies upside down and dip them. Shake of the excess icing, then add sprinkles. The sprinkles do tend to bleed from the moisture of the icing after sitting overnight, so if you want them to look nicer I’d suggest icing and adding sprinkles shortly before serving.
These cookies are truly great for any time you feel like a cookie. While often popular at Christmas, they’d be great any time. You can swap out the sprinkles for any festive mix you like. You could even swap out the vanilla and lemon flavor of these for some almond or coconut extract. The options are endless and no matter how you make them, they are sure to be soft little cakey pillows of awesomeness. I hope you enjoy them!
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- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 36 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 36 minutes
- Yield: about 48 cookies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
Italian Ricotta Cookies are soft, cake-like little cookies with lovely flavor and a tasty icing on top! They are easy to make and perfect for any holiday – especially Christmas!
Ingredients
Cookies
- 3 3/4 cups (488g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 3/4 cups (362g) granulated sugar
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 15 oz (1 3/4 cups) whole milk ricotta cheese
Icing
- 2 cups (230g) powdered sugar
- 4–5 tbsp milk
- 3 tbsp butter, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
2. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
3. Cream the butter, sugar and lemon zest together in a large mixer bowl on medium speed for 3-4 minutes, until light in color and fluffy. You should be able to see the change in color and texture happen and know it’s ready.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until well combined between each addition.
5. Add the vanilla extract and ricotta and mix until well combined.
6. Slowly add the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Do not over mix.
7. If you’d like to chill the cookie dough (which makes it a easier to work with), cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 2 hours or up to two days. You don’t have to chill the dough though. It doesn’t really change the outcome.
8. Drop tablespoon sized balls (no larger or they will spread too much) of cookie dough onto the cookie sheet and gently shape into a ball shape.
9. Bake for 9-12 minutes or until the bottoms of the cookies are lightly golden.
10. Cool cookies on the cookie sheet for 2-3 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.
11. To make the icing, whisk the powdered sugar, milk, butter and vanilla extract together in a small bowl.
12. Turn the cookies upside down, one at a time, and dip the tops of them into the icing.
13. Turn the cookies over and add sprinkles. Allow to dry. The icing will crust over, but doesn’t dry hard.
14. Store the cookies in an airtight container. The sprinkles will likely bleed after sitting overnight, so if you want the presentation to be nice, I’d suggest adding the icing and sprinkles shortly before serving. The icing also starts to wrinkle after a day or two. Cookies are best for about 4-5 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 143
- Sugar: 12.3 g
- Sodium: 100.5 mg
- Fat: 6 g
- Carbohydrates: 20.1 g
- Protein: 2.3 g
- Cholesterol: 24.4 mg
Keywords: Italian Ricotta Cookies, Christmas cookies, easy christmas cookies recipe, best christmas cookies
Could I sub almond extract for the vanilla and can I use salted butter and delete the salt
Yes, that should be fine.
Haven’t made them yet but when comparing recipes most gave baking powder. You list baking soda. Is that correct?
Yes, it is correct. I tried them with baking powder and I absolutely prefer the texture using baking soda. You get a more tender cookie with baking soda.
I loved these cookies, they are delicious and addicting. The lemon zest is perfect, they don’t taste like lemon but just a nice flavor.
★★★★★
So glad you enjoyed them!
Hi- could I substitute cherry juice for the milk in the icing? Thanks 1
Sure, that should be fine.
Are you saying that once the cookies are iced and sprinkled, that the sprinkles begin to bleed? Wondering how they’ll look after several days…
Yes, because the icing is fairly soft and moist, the sprinkles do eventually start to bleed.
These cookies are absolutely amazing! My family loved them! Will definitely make these again
★★★★★
These are the best cookies ever!! My whole family loved them! Thanks for the recipe!
Can you freeze these cookies? Before or after icing?
I would freeze them before icing so that the icing looks fresh later when you frost them.
I love this recipe! I add a little lemon juice to the icing and leave off the sprinkles. They will be the perfect lemon cookies for Easter!