These lemon ricotta cookies are, tart, sweet and a little salty. They've got a luscious lemon cream cheese frosting that adds tons of lemon flavor. This is a soft and yummy cookie, perfect year round!
1 stand mixer or a large bowl with an electric hand mixer
1 electric hand mixer for glaze
1 medium mixing bowl
1 whisk
1 rubber spatula
1 cooling rack
1 2oz cookie scoop
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
2¼cupsall purpose flour
2tablespooncornstarch
2teaspoonbaking soda
½tsp kosher salt
Wet Ingredients
½cupunsalted butterroom temp
4ozwhole milk ricotta cheeseroom temp
1½cupsgranulated sugar
1eggroom temp
¼cuplemon juicefresh lemon juice
zest from 1 lemonfresh lemon zest
¼teaspoonvanilla extract
Lemon Cream Cheese Glaze
4ozcream cheese room temp
3tablespoonunsalted butterroom temp
2cupspowdered sugarsifted
¼cuplemon juicefresh lemon juice
zest of 1 lemonfresh lemon zest
¼tsp kosher salt
Toppings
¼teaspoonflaky sea saltoptional but delicious
1tsp fresh lemon zestto sprinkle on top of cookies
Instructions
Mixing the Dry Ingredients
Whisk the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl then set aside
Mixing the Wet Ingredients
Mix the butter, ricotta, sugar and lemon zest together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium speed for 3 minutes until mixture is pale yellow, light and fluffy
Add the egg and mix on high speed until fully combined
Mix in the lemon juice and vanilla on low speed until combined
Add the dry ingredients into the wet and mix on low speed just until almost fully combined
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and scoop the dough into 2oz balls onto the tray. Chill dough for at least 2 hours and up to 48 hours
Making the Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Make the frosting while the dough is chilling
Mix the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with a hand mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes
Add the sifted powdered sugar, lemon juice, zest and salt then mix on low speed until combined. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and mix another 2 minutes
Baking the Lemon Ricotta Cookies
Preheat the oven to 350°F then line a baking sheet with parchment paper
Remove the dough balls straight from the fridge onto the baking sheet then bake for 14 minutes
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer them to a wire rack. If the cookies seem like they're going to break then let them cool longer on the baking sheet
Frosting and Topping the Cookies
Once the cookies are fully cooled then drizzle them with the lemon frosting. Add the lemon frosting to a small sandwich Ziplock bag then seal the top. Make a very small snip on one of the corners then drizzle over the cookies
Top each cookie with lemon zest and flaky sea salt
Notes
Do not skip the chilling step to these cookies. You're cookies will be a flat mess.The lemon glaze can be made up to 5 days ahead of time and stored in the fridge in an airtight container. Let it come to room temperature before drizzling to make the drizzling process easier.Don't forget to sift your powdered sugar before adding it to the frosting. This helps prevent any clumps. Make sure to use a 2oz cookie scoop or a scale to weigh 2oz dough balls. If you don't have either of those then you can use a ¼ cup measuring cup to scoop the dough, just go a little light on it. Then roll the dough into balls before chilling.Room temperature ingredients work best in the wet ingredients. The cookies will look underdone when you take them out of the oven but they will continue to cook as they cool.