Day 13 - Ricotta Cookies

Today, the baking duo was reunited as Marissa came home from college for winter break.  We decided to make a simple but classic cookie that is so delicious. It is a favorite of my niece and nephews, Christy, Joey and David as their grandmother used to make Ricotta cookies for them all the time when they were little and they loved them so much. We divided the batter in half and added Christmas sprinkles in half the batter.  The other half we left plain.  We then frosted the sprinkled half with a buttercream frosting and the plain half with a lemon glaze. Marissa loves lemon ricotta pancakes which are so popular right now and this gave us the idea of the lemon glaze since lemon and ricotta go so well together. We essentially made two different but equally delicious cookies with the same batter.

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour

Beat butter and ricotta in electric mixer until creamy.  Add vanilla, and sugar and mix until well combined.  Add egg and mix until incorporated.  Slowly stir in dry ingredients and mix well. If adding sprinkles to batter, add at this point.  Roll dough into small balls and roll in sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack.  Makes about 40.

Frosting (enough for full batch of cookies)
2 - 2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 cup softened butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
3-4 tablespoons milk or water

Mix well and add more water or confectioners sugar to get to the right consistency.  Frost cooled cookies and add sprinkles on top.

Lemon Glaze (enough glaze for full batch -- I did half recipe for my half batch)

1 and 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon (or to taste -- I used only a small amount about 1/2 teaspoon to 1 teaspoon for half recipe)

Mix confectioners sugar and lemon juice until smooth consistency.  Add more lemon juice or confectioners sugar to get to the right consistency.  Add lemon zest.  Lemon zest intensifies the lemon flavor.  Spread over cooled cookies with a knife.