Italian Ricotta Cookies

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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!

Why You’ll Love Italian Ricotta Cookies

  • Sweet with a hint of tanginess. These ricotta cookies are very vanilla, but they also have a little lemon zest as well, giving them a refreshing flavor. Not cheesy at all!
  • Soft and tender. With their cake-like texture, it’s like eating tasty little pillows!
  • Perfect for the holidays. These light cookies are easily decorated with red and green sprinkles, making them a great choice for a Christmas cookie party.

Looking for more Christmas cookie ideas? Try my buttery Spritz cookies recipe, these easy gingerbread cookies or these classic snowball cookies.

What Are Italian Ricotta Cookies?

Italian ricotta cookies are soft, cake-like cookies made with ricotta cheese, which gives them a tender texture and subtle richness. Lightly sweet and delicately flavored, often with vanilla, lemon, or almond extract, they’re typically topped with a simple glaze and sometimes garnished with sprinkles. These cookies are a traditional treat served during holidays, but they are more Italian-American vs. authentically Italian. You’ll love their melt-in-your-mouth quality and slightly tangy, buttery flavor.

Italian ricotta cookies with red, green, and white sprinkles layered in a red Christmas tree shaped platter.

What You’ll Need

These cookies contain ingredients you should mostly have on hand with a couple exceptions. For exact amounts and the full set of directions, check out the recipe card below.

  • All purpose flour
  • Baking soda – Some recipes use a combination of baking soda and baking powder, but I 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 love.
  • Salt
  • Vanilla extract
  • Butter – Give this time to soften before you begin.
  • 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 some richness to the cookies and adds to their texture, making them moist and soft.
Ricotta cookies with Christmas sprinkles.

Watch How These Cookies Are Made

Read transcript

Tips for the Best Italian Ricotta Cookies

  • Cream the butter and sugar for the full 3-4 minutes. This step helps add air to the cookie dough that’s important for your cookies to rise properly.
  • Don’t over-mix the cookie dough. When you add the dry ingredients, don’t over-mix or you could end up with tough cookies.
  • Possible variations. You can swap out the sprinkles for any festive mix you like. Or, you could even swap out the vanilla and lemon flavor of these for some almond or coconut extract. The options are endless!
Italian ricotta cookies with red, green, and white sprinkles spread over a metal cooling rack.

Proper Storage

  • Room temperature. You can store these Italian ricotta cookies in an airtight container in a single layer. They should be good for 2-3 days this way.
  • Fridge. You can also keep them in the fridge in an airtight container for 4-5 days.
  • Freezer. If you haven’t iced the cookies yet, go ahead and freeze them in a freezer-safe container for 2-3 months.

More Christmas Cookie Recipes

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Italian Ricotta Cookies with red, green and white sprinkles spread over a metal cooling rack with one cookie missing a bite
Recipe

Italian Ricotta Cookies

  • Author: Lindsay
  • Prep Time: 1 hour
  • Cook Time: 36 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour 36 minutes
  • Yield: 48
  • Category: Cookies
  • Method: Oven
  • Cuisine: American

Description

Italian ricotta cookies are so soft, and infused with subtle tangy lemon flavor. They’re a Christmas favorite in my house!


Ingredients

Cookies

  • 3 3/4 cups (488g) all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 3/4 cups (362g) granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 15 ounces (1 3/4 cups) whole milk ricotta cheese

Icing

  • 2 cups (230g) powdered sugar
  • 45 tablespoons milk
  • 3 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1 teaspoon 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.

Notes

  • Yield. This recipe makes about 48 cookies. 
  • To store. You can store these Italian ricotta cookies in an airtight container in a single layer. They should be good for 2-3 days this way. You can also keep them in the fridge in an airtight container for 4-5 days.
  • To freeze. If you haven’t iced the cookies yet, go ahead and freeze them in a freezer-safe container for 2-3 months.

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

Categories

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Recipe rating 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

33 Comments
  1. Deborah

    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…

  2. Cindy Weishuhn

    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!

  3. Adam

    These are great–very nice lemon-ricotta flavour. Mine needed more like 15 minutes in the oven. I didn’t make the icing, didn’t want to lose the citrus and cream flavor, so just dusted with powdered sugar. Recipe makes way more than 48 though, I’d say cut in half.






  4. Linda

    These cookies are great and the icing is so much easier to work with than the recipe I had.  Can you freeze these cookies

    1. Lindsay

      They should do fine frozen, I might just recommend freezing them unfrosted and frosting them after thawing so that they look nicer. Also, thaw them in the fridge.

  5. Laura

    Totally 5 Stars! These cookies are OMG amazing! By far, THE best cookies I’ve ever tasted. Still can’t believe they’re made with cheese. Wow! And the lemon does add a perfect subtle flavor. I’m so glad I tried this recipe. Thanks for posting it. I was trying out out your soft sugar cookie recipe when I found this one and I was intrigued. I am always on mission to find any soft cookie recipe to make for my 88 year young Mother who happens to be short on teeth, so she loves soft, easy to chew sweets and these were a big hit with her also.

  6. Rene

    These were a big hit at Christmas dinner.. my niece always cooks Italian food so this went right along with it. I had to give everyone the recipe, good thing I bookmarked it

  7. Stephanie Perlman

    These cookies are decorated beautifully! I will be making them today or tomorrow! Your red tree platter is so cute! Do you happen to remember where you purchased it?

      1. Lindsay

        Yes, it’s in step one. It’s 350 degrees F and I use a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.

  8. Cindy Weishuhn

    This recipe is amazing. I made the frosting and added lemon zest to it as well, but didn’t add sprinkles. Took them to work and everyone went crazy for them!!! I have to say that every recipe I’ve tried from this site has turned out perfect and I’ve made quite a few of them.

  9. Erin

    These look really tasty, Lindsay! I love soft, pillow-y, cake-y cookies, so these are right up my alley! And the addition of ricotta and lemon sounds AMAZING, so I’ll definitely have to try these sometime!

Lindsay
About Lindsay

I’m the baker, recipe developer and photographer behind Life, Love and Sugar. I love sharing trusted recipes with helpful tips to give you great results.

Scripture I’m Loving

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:28-29