The Clever Carrot's Italian Christmas Ricotta Cookies

One of my favorite cooking blogs to follow is The Clever Carrot. Emilie is so creative and all her recipes look like you just want to reach into the screen and grab the food off the plate. With that in mind, I knew these delectable and colorful Christmastime treats would of course be delicious. I have never heard of using ricotta in a cookie recipe, but don’t doubt the Italians, they know what they’re doing! I didn’t even want to bake the cookies because the dough was so light and sweet with hints of orange peel and vanilla. To Die For, People!

After sufficiently stuffing much too many “little tastes” of the forbidden cookie dough into my mouth, I used a soup spoon to put the cookie dough balls on the parchment. I wish I’d had a cookie scoop because The Clever Carrot’s looked so smooth and soft in the photos and mine came out kind bumpy. Oh well, it’s still the same delicious cookie! They are fluffy like biscuits but melt in your mouth with each bite and the sprinkles are so fun, who wouldn’t want to eat or receive these this Christmas!

ITALIAN CHRISTMAS RICOTTA COOKIES

Prep Time: 20 mins

Cook Time: 50 mins

Total Time: 1 hour 10 mins

Recipe by: The Clever Carrot

Serves: 30

Ingredients:

6 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened*
⅔ c. sugar
1 egg
1 c. part skim ricotta cheese
¼ tsp. fiori di sicilia extract**
1½ c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
pinch of salt
¾ c. powdered sugar, sifted
3 Tbsp. milk
1 large bottle (7.5 oz) mixed red, white & green sprinkles

* To quickly soften butter, microwave for 10+ seconds adjusting the time as needed.

** You can order Fiori di Sicilia extract online through King Arthur Flour and Amazon, or purchase at Sur La Table or Italian specialty shops. Substitute with 1 tsp. of pure vanilla extract or ½ tsp. almond extract if you prefer.

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 325ºF. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. In the bowl of a stand mixer add the softened butter, sugar, and egg. Beat until light and fluffy.
Add the ricotta cheese and extract. Mix well to combine.
In a separate bowl sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together.
With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients. Mix only until combined.
Portion the dough onto the prepared baking sheet using a cookie scoop.***
Bake in the center of the oven for about 25 minutes. Note: I prefer to bake my cookies one pan at a time. Repeat this process when the first batch is done.
Remove from the oven and transfer cookies to a wire rack. Cool completely before decorating.
To make the glaze, sift the powdered sugar into a large bowl. Add the milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until a glaze has formed.
Set up your decoration station: grab 2 bowls and cut a long piece of parchment paper. One bowl is for the sprinkles and the other bowl will remain empty ( to catch the sprinkles as you decorate). Place the parchment paper on the table for the glazed cookies to dry.
To decorate, dunk ½ of each cookie into the glaze, allowing the excess to drip off. Working over your empty bowl, top the glazed half with sprinkles. Do not dunk the cookies into the sprinkles; the glaze will fall off and the sprinkles will get wet.
Place the decorated cookies onto the parchment paper. Dry completely before serving.

*** Use a small cookie scoop, 1½” diameter to evenly portion the dough

MAKE AHEAD TIP: If you’d like to make these cookies in advance, I recommend baking only 1 day ahead of time. They become softer as they sit. Store in an air tight container.