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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.
Why This Recipe Works
- 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.
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.
- 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.
- Add your eggs. Mix in the eggs one at a time.
- Time for the vanilla extract and ricotta cheese. Mix them into the cookie dough until well combined.
- Add the dry ingredients. Add them to the mix and stir everything together just until combined.
- 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 off 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.
Tips & Recipe Variations
- 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!
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.
- Christmas Sprinkle Cookies
- Peppermint Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies
- Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies
- Anise Cookies
- Grinch Cookies
Recipe
- 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
- 4–5 tablespoons milk
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
- 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.
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until well combined between each addition.
- Add the vanilla extract and ricotta and mix until well combined.
- Slowly add the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Do not over mix.
- 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.
- 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.
- Bake for 9-12 minutes or until the bottoms of the cookies are lightly golden.
- Cool cookies on the cookie sheet for 2-3 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- To make the icing, whisk the powdered sugar, milk, butter and vanilla extract together in a small bowl.
- Turn the cookies upside down, one at a time, and dip the tops of them into the icing.
- Turn the cookies over and add sprinkles. Allow to dry. The icing will crust over, but doesn’t dry hard.
- 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
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!
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.
If I baked These tonight. How do you recommend I store Them for Christmas??
These cookies are great and the icing is so much easier to work with than the recipe I had. Can you freeze these cookies
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.
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.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
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
Wonderful! I’m so glad they were a hit!
This was a big, hug3 hit at our Italian Christmas dinner everyon3 wants the recipe
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?
Thank you! I got the platter a while ago at Home Goods. I hope you enjoy the cookies!
You don’t give temperature and if you should grease and flour baking sheet
Yes, it’s in step one. It’s 350 degrees F and I use a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
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.
I’m so glad to hear you’ve enjoyed all the recipes! Thank you!
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!
These are a family favorite from the Italian side of my husband’s family!