Ricotta cheese gives these cookies a cake-like texture and delicate flavor. A sprinkling of red and green sprinkles make them the perfect pick for the holiday season.
Calling these ‘cookies’ is a bit of a misnomer, if you ask me. They are more like tender little cakes that belong beside a cup of hot tea (teacakes, perhaps?). One thing is for certain, they’ll be right at home at any cookie swap or holiday gathering.
Plan ahead because the dough will need to chill for about 2 hours. It will be sticky at first, and chilling makes it easier to handle.
Scoop chilled dough by the rounded tablespoons and place them, well spaced, on parchment-lined cookie sheets. If the dough is cold enough, and you can quickly roll them between your palms to get a more uniform shape.
Break out the holiday sprinkles! The baked and frosted cookies have a simple appearance with their pale color and white icing. They’ll definitely sparkle a little more with silver dragees and Christmas-colored sprinkles.
After the icing firms, you can stack the cookies on on a tray for serving.
A double dose of dairy – ricotta and real butter – make these so soft and flavorful. They are such delicate little morsels and the simple glaze on top makes them just sweet enough. One or two cookies with tea made such a nice afternoon snack. They were gone too soon!
This blog post is brought to you by Go Bold With Butter! Click here for the printable recipe. Be sure to check out all of their excellent recipes made with real butter and dairy!
Italian Almond Ricotta Cookies
These cookies are so festive and delicious! Perfect for Christmas!
Well, this is officially my husband's favorite cookie. He is notoriously picky / neutral on most treats, so all I can say is thank you! Any advice on getting the frosting to dry completely? I'd like to package these as gifts, but after letting them sit overnight, they had crusted but were still wet in the middle, so when I stacked them, it ruined the icing in places. I'm interested to try drying them in a 100* oven for a half an hour or so (the way I harden royal icing on sugar cookies) but these cookies are so lovely… Read more »
Yay! That's great news! I have a picky eater too. It always feels like it's a win when I get a compliment from him on any kind of sweets. You might try omitting the melted butter from the frosting recipe. If you've ever made classic gingerbread, the hard sauce that accompanies it (confectioners' frosting) sets up completely dry. It is essentially confectioners' sugar, a little milk and a little flavoring/extract. The end mixture should be really thick and hold in the balloon of a whisk for 1-2 seconds before it pours back into the bowl. It doesn't dry rock hard… Read more »