Hello Everybody! During the summer season at Cincinnati Opera, we performed Puccini's TOSCA! To keep with the theme, I made some festive Italian Ricotta Cookies! Here's How:
Lemon Ricotta Cookies:
Cookie Ingredients:
DRY:
3 1/2- 4 cups AP Flour (for my recipe, I don't "scrape" off the measuring cup, so it's a little more than 3 1/2 cups
2 t baking SODA
3/4 t salt (again, a little extra won't hurt if you don't have smaller than a tsp measure)
1 3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 t lemon zest
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
WET:
15 oz ricotta cheese (if you buy 30 oz container, it's about 1 3/4 cup)
1 T vanilla extract
1/2-1 T almond extract
2 eggs, room temperature
Glaze:
Juice from one lemon
1 1/3 cup confectioners sugar, sifted
Instructions:
This dough needs to chill for a while, so don't start the oven yet!
While you let the butter and eggs come to room temperature, zest your lemon. I like THIS microplane zester.
Whisk the flour, SODA, salt in a large bowl and set aside.
In a stand mixer fitted with the beater attachment, Cream the butter, sugar and lemon zest until fluffy.
Beat in the vanilla, almond and ricotta one at a time until well combined.
Add in the eggs one at a time. Beating well after each.
Turn your mixer on "stir" and incorporate the flour mixture about a 1/4 cup at a time.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let chill for a minimum of 2 hours (up to a couple days).
Preheat the oven to 350degF, Line a few baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat.
Scoop out the dough into about Tbs balls (I use a small ice cream scoop.. . ) about 2-3 inches apart. It's a STICKY dough, but has definitely firmed from chilling.
Bake for 10-12 minutes. Maybe a little longer if your cookie size is larger.
Let sit on pan for a couple minutes and then remove to cool completely. It takes about 30 minutes.
For the glaze:
Juice that lemon that we zested a few hours back.
Incorporate a little at a time into the confectioners sugar until your spreading consistency is desired. If you're adding sprinkles, now's the time!
And VOILA! Beautiful Lemon Ricotta Cookies!