Lemon ricotta cookies

Wow! Wow! I've never had anything like that before, cheese cookies! A cheesecake and a cookie in one.

I didn't know what to expect, but I knew it had to be good because it's by Giada de Laurentiis, one of my favorite American chefs. Giada was born in Italy. Her dessert recipes always surprise me, she brings American professionalism and Italian joy of life beautifully together!

I started my Holiday baking season with these cookies. Maybe because they are so rich and so lemony that they are on the Foodnetwork list of Holiday Cookies. Or maybe it's in the glaze, it makes the cookies look frosty. Fine with me. I started my season right, the cookies are delicious. I had to skip lunch and I wasn't sure about dinner.

They don't look like a cheesecake inside, but you do taste ricotta. They have a thin crust and are soft inside. I did make the glaze, I put it on some of them. The glaze gave the cookie an extra lemon kick and a nice finishing touch. Kids prefer without it.

The recipe was perfect. I had exactly 40 cookies, 20 on each baking sheet. Again, I used the oven twice to ensure even baking. I even rotated the baking sheet half way through baking. This way the cookies in the first row baked as much as the cookies in the last row. Always a good practice but requires some concentration and preparation so you don't burn you hands. I use a big glove.

I made my cheese miracles yesterday. I'm the biggest fan of my baking goodies in the house, I have plenty to enjoy it today, even if I have to skip lunch again.

Recipe adapted from Foodnetwork

ingredients
cookies

• 2 1/2 cups (375 g) flour
• 1 teaspoon (4 g) baking powder
• 1 teaspoon (8 g) salt
• 1 stick (120 g) butter, room temperature
• 2 cups (400 g) sugar
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1.1 lb (500 g) ricotta cheese, room temperature
• 3 Tablespoons lemon juice
• zest from 1 lemon

glaze

• 5 Tablespoons powder sugar
• 1 Tablespoon or less lemon juice
• zest from 1/2 lemon

instructions
to prepare cookies

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 180 C/355 F (fan forced function).
2. In a medium bowl, sift  flour, baking powder and salt together.
3. Using an electric mixer, beat soft butter with sugar till light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
4. Add  eggs, one at the time, to the butter mix. 
5. Then add  lemon juice, lemon zest and ricotta cheese.  Beat to combine.
6. Add the flour mix to the ricotta mix. Stir it in.
7. Using two tablespoons, make round shapes and apply them on the baking sheets lined with parchment paper. For each cookie, use the amount equaling two tablespoons of batter, this way you'll have exactly 40 cookies, 20 on each baking sheet.
8. Bake them till slightly brown around the edges, about 20 minutes. Giada said 15, but mine were not ready after 15 minutes.

to prepare glaze

1. Whisk powder sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest in small bowl. Apply on the cooled cookies. The glaze will take about two hours to harden. Whatever proportion you use, make sure that the glaze is rather thick, otherwise it will disappear in the cookie.