Lemon Ricotta Cookies with Lemon Glaze

After preparing a fabulous loaf of bread and a shepherd's pie for dinner last night it seemed like a total let down not to have dessert. But what exactly do you eat after you have stuffed yourself to the brim? Something light and fluffy so that it almost doesn't count, right? And then it came to me: cookies. At the mention of someone in the mood for lemon I searched for something that I hadn't tried before and found it. Voila! Lemon ricotta cookies with this delectable lemon glaze. SOLD! So here we go...

*Note: this recipe will take you a good 2.5 hours from start to finish so plan to be in the kitchen for a while. In my experience, listening to a great music while dancing around with a spatula singing proved incredibly entertaining and I hardly noticed that the time passed.

Recipe:

Cookies:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 stick salted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 (15-ounce) container whole milk ricotta cheese

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1 lemon, zested (optional)

Glaze:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1 lemon, zested

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Cookies

In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In the large bowl combine the butter and the sugar. Mix the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, (if you are using a mixer it should take about 3 minutes – if you are doing it by hand like I did it takes a little longer. Feel free to add one of the eggs while you are mixing as it helps loosen the dough up and make it more manageable.) Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating until incorporated. Add the ricotta cheese, lemon juice, and lemon zest (if you are using it in the cookie dough – I didn’t put the zest in the dough for mine but I’m sure it would be stellar.) Beat to combine. Stir in the dry ingredients.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Spoon the dough (about 2 tablespoons for each cookie) onto the baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes, until slightly golden at the edges. Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 20 minutes.

Glaze

Combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a small bowl and stir until smooth. Spoon about 1/2-teaspoon onto each cookie and use the back of the spoon to gently spread. Let the glaze harden for about 2 hours.

Pictures:

Resting on the cooling rack - a MUST before glazing!

So perfect - I wanted to cheat and just eat it IMMEDIATELY!

This recipe can yield up to 44, but I like mine bigger so I didn't quite make that many :)

GLAZE!!!

And devour....

The perfect ending to our feast last night! These cookies were so incredibly scrumptious! They were just as light and fluffy as I had hoped, in fact they reminded me of an old recipe that my Grandmother used to make once upon a time.

**Note: Because they have ricotta in them make sure that you throw them in the fridge and cover them so that they don't go bad - I promise they are just as delicious refrigerated.