It was time for our annual neighborhood cookie trade and these festive Italian Ricotta Cookies with almond icing and vacation sprinkles had been excellent for the event. This vacation basic will turn into a scrumptious yearly custom!
Made with entire milk ricotta cheese, these gentle Italian Christmas Cookies are cakey, tender, and irresistible!
Why You Should Make
- There’s not at all times time to roll, reduce, and embellish conventional frosted sugar cookies.
- These ricotta cheese cookies are made by merely scooping the dough onto parchment paper, baking, after which topping with a simple powdered sugar frosting!
- My frosting-loving husband, who’s usually a tough promote in the case of new recipes, raved about these even earlier than they had been iced!!! FYI, his hearty endorsement included the frosted cookies, too.
Ingredient Notes:
Search for entire milk ricotta as the additional fats helps make for gentle, tender cookies. The flavorings may be tweaked. I used vanilla for the cookies and almond for the frosting. Anise and lemon are additionally generally used. Differ the colour of your sprinkles for various holidays or events. Suppose St. Patrick’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Bridal or Child Showers, and many others.
- Kitchen Staples: Sugar, All-Objective Flour, Desk Salt, Baking Soda, Milk
- Butter – I take advantage of salted. For those who use unsalted, add just a little additional desk salt.
- Eggs – Massive Eggs
- Entire milk ricotta cheese – I eliminated 1 tablespoon from a 16-ounce container (the recipe requires 15 ounces).
- Actual Vanilla Extract, – By no means use imitation vanilla, the style is subpar.
- Powdered Sugar – Sift earlier than utilizing for the smoothest frosting.
- Almond extract – Offers a extra complicated taste to those Italian cookies
- Coloured sprinkles or sugar, relying on the vacation. Be certain to odor and style your sprinkles should you’ve had them for a couple of years. Sprinkles can lose high quality over time and even go rancid (which can smash your cookies!).
Skilled Suggestions
Although I’m unsure the origin of those cookies is admittedly Italy or if that is an Italian-American contribution, they’re a Christmas basic for a lot of households throughout the US. Usually flavored with lemon or anise, I went with vanilla within the cookies and almond extract within the frosting. Be at liberty so as to add the flavorings you and your loved ones want.
- As with all cookies, have your butter and eggs at room temperature. The butter shouldn’t be so gentle that it seems greasy, us gentle sufficient to make it mix simply with the sugar.
- PRO-Tip: Use a cookie disher (affiliate hyperlink) cookie scoop to make constant sized cookies. I used a smaller scoop for some (my desire) and a medium scoop for the remaining. Simply modify the baking time.
- PRO-Tip: I additionally rolled the dough balls between my palms to assist make them rounder.
- Bake on parchment-lined baking sheets for simple cleanup. I reuse my parchment for subsequent batches of the identical cookie.
- Let cool fully earlier than icing. And whereas the frosting remains to be moist, add sprinkles in colours to match the season or occasion. You may also embellish these Italian Christmas cookies with coloured sugar or candied cherries.
- Use an offset spatula (affiliate hyperlink) to unfold on the icing or maintain the cookies by their sides and dip the tops into the bowl of frosting.
These had been excellent for a neighborhood vacation cookie trade. There was nothing however crumbs on the platter when it was time to go residence! Take a look at extra of my favourite Cookie Trade Recipes for vacation inspiration.
Incessantly Requested Questions
Retailer your ricotta cookies in an hermetic container at room temperature. As soon as they’re frosted, allow them to dry for not less than 2 hours earlier than putting them in a lined container, with wax paper separating every layer.
PRO-Tip: Sadly, the glaze can soften over time, so if giving as items, contemplate frosting on the day you ship. They don’t should be refrigerated.
Baked unfrosted Italian ricotta cookies freeze effectively. The unbaked dough doesn’t freeze effectively, although the dough may be made forward of time and saved, lined, within the fridge for a couple of days.
Freeze the cookies earlier than they’re frosted because the sprinkles can bleed as they defrost, relying on the model you utilize.
There are many scrumptious choices together with Italian Fig Cookies, Biscotti, Butter Cookies, Sprinkle Cookies, Pizzelle Cookies, Canoli Cookies, and Befanini (Epiphany shortbread cookies).
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I additionally introduced my rosettes, which had been a novelty amongst my pals!
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Substances
Cookies:
- 1 cup butter, at room temperature
- 2 cups sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 carton (15 ounces) entire milk ricotta cheese (I eliminated 1 tablespoon from a 16 ounce container)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 4 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Frosting:
- ¼ cup butter, at room temperature
- 3 to 4 cups powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 3 to 4 tablespoons milk
- Coloured sprinkles or sugar
Directions
- In a bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one after the other, beating effectively after every addition.
- Combine in ricotta and vanilla. In one other bowl, whisk collectively flour, salt, and baking soda, then progressively add to the creamed combination.
- Scoop out rounded teaspoonfuls of dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or till calmly browned. Take away to wire racks to chill.
- In a big bowl, cream butter, powdered sugar, almond extract, and sufficient milk to succeed in your required consistency.
- Frost the cooled cookies and instantly embellish them with sprinkles or coloured sugar.
- Retailer within the fridge.
Notes
Tailored from Style of Residence.
Sadly, the glaze can soften over time, so if giving as items, contemplate frosting them on the day you ship. They don’t should be refrigerated.
Beneficial Merchandise
As an Amazon Affiliate and member of different affiliate packages, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Diet Data:
Yield:
48
Serving Measurement:
2 cookies
Quantity Per Serving:
Energy: 233Complete Fats: 6gSaturated Fats: 3gTrans Fats: 0gUnsaturated Fats: 2gLdl cholesterol: 26mgSodium: 119mgCarbohydrates: 44gFiber: 0gSugar: 35gProtein: 2g
