Why These Cookies Are a Family Holiday Tradition
Italian ricotta cookies are simple drop cookies with an easy-to-mix dough. Lightly sweetened, and loaded with tangy lemon flavor, their delicate cake-like texture makes them a nice choice for a light dessert after a heavy holiday meal.
We use a splash of limoncello liqueur in both the dough and the glaze, which makes our ricotta cookie recipe a favorite with adults, but for a kid-friendly version, all you need to do is use lemon extract instead.
We also like to switch up the flavors on occasion and we’ve made both orange and almond versions of this recipe. Those instructions, as well as the alcohol-free version, are available in the printable recipe below.
Key Ingredients
In addition to standard ingredients like all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, etc., here are a few recommendations about the key ingredients in our lemony ricotta cookies.
- Ricotta cheese: We’ve made these cookies with both whole milk and part-skim ricotta and have come to the conclusion that the whole milk version produces a better texture.
- Limoncello liqueur: Limoncello adds lemon flavor and a subtle boozy quality that makes these cookies a nice pairing for a cup of cappuccino or espresso.
- Lemon zest: Nothing beats fresh lemon zest for adding true lemon flavor. You can get away without it, but your cookies sure will taste better with it.
- Butter: You always want to use unsalted butter in your baking, but we also recommend using a European-style brand for cookies. European butter has a slightly higher fat content and less water than standard American butter and we’ve found it produces somewhat more consistent results.
How To Make Ricotta Cookies
This is an overview of how this dish is made. Detailed measurements, ingredients, instructions, and times are available in the printable version of the recipe below.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg and beat until the mixture become light and fluffy.
- Beat in the ricotta, vanilla extract, lemon extract, limoncello liqueur, and lemon zest.
- Add in the flour mixture and blend until well combined. Don’t overmix.
- Drop the dough using a tablespoon-sized cookie scoop onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 12 to 13 minutes until cookies appear set and edges turn a pale golden brown. Let cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack. Cool completely before glazing.
For the glaze:
- In a small bowl, mix the confectioners’ sugar with 1 tablespoon of the limoncello. Slowly add up to 1 more tablespoon of the liqueur until the glaze reaches a spreading consistency. You may need to add a little water.
- Spread the glaze on the cookies using a pastry brush.
- Arrange the cookies in a single layer and allow the glaze to dry completely before covering them with plastic wrap.
Storing and serving:
- To store, refrigerate the cookies in a tightly sealed container with plastic wrap between layers. For best results, don’t stack more than 2 layers.
- Arrange the cookies on a serving platter and bring them to room temperature before serving.
Ricotta Cookie Flavor Variations
- Non-alcoholic: Making these cookies alcohol-free is easy to do by increasing the amount of lemon extract in both the cookie dough and the glaze and adding a little extra milk. Exact instructions are included in the printable version of the recipe below.
You can also switch up the flavors and make orange or almond variations on this recipe. Here’s how:
- Orange Ricotta Cookies: To make an orange-flavored version of this recipe, replace the lemon extract, lemon zest, and limoncello with orange extract, orange zest, and orange liqueur (triple sec).
- Almond Ricotta Cookies: To make an almond-flavored version of these cookies, substitute almond extract, finely crushed almonds, and amaretto liqueur.
More Italian Cookie Recipes
We like our baked goods and desserts lightly sweetened, consequently, Italian biscotti are right up our alley. We’ve got three biscotti recipes here at MGC for you to try: Chocolate-Dipped Biscotti, Orange Rosemary Biscotti, and Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti. They’re all pretty easy to prepare and make great gifts and a nice addition to a holiday cookie platter.
Italian Ricotta Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 cup ricotta cheese, (whole milk is recommended)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
- 1 tablespoon limoncello liqueur
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
Glaze:
- 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 2 tablespoons limoncello liqueur
- Grated lemon zest, optional
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg and beat until the mixture become light and fluffy. Beat in the ricotta, vanilla extract, lemon extract, limoncello liqueur, and lemon zest.
- Add in the flour mixture and blend until well combined. Don't overmix.
- Drop the dough using a tablespoon-sized cookie scoop onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 12 to 13 minutes until cookies appear set and edges turn a pale golden brown. Let cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack. Cool completely before glazing.
For the glaze:
- In small bowl, mix the confectioners’ sugar with 1 tablespoon of the limoncello. Slowly add up to 1 more tablespoon of the liqueur until the glaze reaches spreading consistency. You may need to add a little water.
- Spread the glaze on the cookies using a pastry brush.
- Arrange in a single layer and allow the glaze to dry completely before covering with plastic wrap.
Storage and serving:
- To store, refrigerate the cookies in a tightly sealed container with plastic wrap between layers. For best results, don’t stack more than 2 layers.
- Arrange the cookies on a platter and bring them to room temperature before serving.
elizabeth straub says
love this recipe! my grandkids and I baked together…many thx for your colorful blog.
wishing you only green lights in the new year.
namaste
elizabeth from ON
Lynne Webb says
Hi Elizabeth,
I’m so glad you and your grandkids had a good time baking together and enjoyed the cookies. Thank you so much for taking the time to let us know.
Lina Yacan says
Hi, I love lemon cake, and thinking to bake lemon cookie too. I usually bake crispy and chewy hard cookies, but I’ve never baked any drop cookies before, could you pls tell me how the dough texture should be? should it be wet (very sticky) and soft like ganache? How can I understand I dont overmix the dough? Thanks
Lynne Webb says
Hi Lina,
Your first thoughts are correct – the dough for these cookies is definitely rather wet and sticky. Regarding overmixing, all I mean is to stop beating once the ingredients are thoroughly combined so the texture of the finished cookie stays light, moist and cakelike. Hope I’ve answered your concerns!
Maja says
This looks so yummy 🙂
Gaetana says
They look delicious and simple to make. How do I calculate the calories per serving? If I want to substitute butter with light olive oil, would that work?
Thanks
Lynne Webb says
Hi,
I would not recommend substituting olive oil for the butter. Butter not only adds flavor, it affects the texture of baked goods. As far as the calorie count goes, you would have to enter the ingredients and number of cookies into diet management software or try to calculate from a site like NutritionData.com. Hope this helps.
Erika Pitera says
The crushed almonds would take the place of the lemon zest in this variation, so 1 teaspoon.
Barbara says
i just made the cookies with the limoncello and they were outstanding. i would like to try the almond version but you don’t say how much almonds
Susan from Food Blogga says
Hey Lynne! Just wanted you to know I included your delicious cookie in my latest article at Foodie View. Happy Holidays!
shibani says
These cookies look divine.Limoncello and ricotta sounds awesome.I love the liqueur and it must be tasting superb.
Lynne Webb says
Thanks to everyone for such nice comments. These cookies have been a big hit in our family for quite a few years. If you decide to give them a try, I hope you enjoy them.
Karen says
I think lemon is a nice change for a Christmas cookie… there’s always so much ginger, cloves, cinnamon, etc., involved in most Christmas coookies. These look delicious – and would be delicious in the middle of summer, too! I can picture these at a bridal shower 🙂
The Duo Dishes says
I’ve always wanted to try these after seeing a similar recipe from Giada De Laurentiis. Now I have to try them!
Jennifer says
These cookies look so good! Yum, I can’t wait to try them out for.
chef E says
I had to come back and take another look…lemony mounds of goodness!
Heather says
WOW!
I mean WOW! Not only do these look YUMMERS they give me yet another reason to make a batch of limoncello very very soon.
Rachel 'Tha Pizza Cutta' Joyce says
Oh my, my. my. Every year I make a slew of holiday cookies and you can bet your begonias that these will be the star this year. Grazie! Ciao! Mangia!
elra says
These cookies are very unusual, they truly unique. Ricotta and limoncello, finally cookie for adult.That is really mighty delicious.
Cheers,
Elra
Susan from Food Blogga says
These look just like my mom’s egg biscuits. I love soft, cakey cookies like these. And I guarantee you as soon as my dad sees these in the round-up, he’s gonna ask my mom to bake them. Limoncello and ricotta in a cookie? That’s positively heavenly.