These lemon ricotta cookies are like little bites of tangy and moist lemon cake. Topped with a sweet lemon glaze, they’re fresh, light, and hopelessly irresistible. It’s a good thing that this recipe makes a big batch because they disappear fast!
Soft but chewy cookies, like chocolate chip cookies, hold a place in most people’s hearts. But there’s a whole world of fluffy cookies that border between cookie and cake. We love these soft cakey sugar cookies, madeleines, and apricot cream cheese cookies for that very reason: their unbeatable cakelike texture.
Tell Me About these Lemon Ricotta Cookies
- Texture: Thanks to 15 ounces of ricotta cheese, these lemon ricotta cookies have a unique melt-in-your-mouth texture that dances between creamy, moist, soft, and airy.
- Flavor: You’ll enjoy the perfect blend of a little tang, a little sweet, and a little tart. We usually make these with lemon, but readers often enjoy the cookies with orange zest and juice instead.
- Ease: Using ricotta plus a handful of basic baking ingredients, it’s fairly simple to make a big batch.
- Time: Prep time is over 1 hour, which includes chilling the cookie dough before shaping and baking. That’s an imperative step—this dough needs time in the refrigerator to thicken properly before shaping and baking.
Recipe Testing: What Works & What Doesn’t
Lemon ricotta cookies are easy to make, but here are a few tips we learned when testing the recipe:
Some Key Ingredients in Lemon Ricotta Cookies
Ricotta cheese, lemons, and almond extract are really the only special ingredients here – the rest are pretty basic like flour, butter, sugar, and eggs.
- Ricotta Cheese: When baked in a cookie, ricotta is less about flavor and more about texture. Think: creamy, moist, soft, and airy. Some people have tried their hand at making fresh homemade ricotta cheese for this recipe, but we haven’t tested it yet. Store-bought ricotta works wonderfully here. Keep in mind that the higher the fat percentage, the creamier the ricotta will be. We often use ricotta made with 2% milk in this recipe. Ricotta is sold in many different container sizes, but 15 ounce is pretty common. We use an entire 15 ounce container in the dough, which helps yield a big batch of cookies. A 16-ounce container will work too if that’s all you have—the extra ounce won’t make a difference in the cookie.
- Lemon Zest & Juice: We love the light lemon flavor of these creamy cookies, especially paired with the almond extract. If you’re out of lemons, swap it for an orange or lime instead.
- Almond Extract: We add a touch of almond extract for extra flavor, but it’s completely optional. For a little crunch and textural difference, we top each with a sliced almond. (Also optional.)
Other Easy Lemon Recipes
- Creamy Lemon Pie
- Lemon Bars
- Blueberry Lemon Icebox Cake
- Lemon Ginger Cookies (our favorite chewy lemon cookie)
- Blackberry Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
If you need more cookie inspiration, today’s cookies join 25+ others on my Summer Cookie Recipes collection page. 🙂
Lemon Ricotta Cookies Recipe
Ingredients You’ll Need
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on high speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl as needed. With the mixer running on low speed, add the eggs one at a time, then add the ricotta cheese, vanilla extract, almond extract (if using), lemon zest, and lemon juice. Beat on medium-high speed until combined. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the dry ingredients. On low speed, beat everything just until incorporated. Do not overmix. Dough will be very creamy, sticky, and thick. Cover dough tightly with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour and up to 2-3 days.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. (Always recommended for cookies.) Set aside.
- Remove cookie dough from the refrigerator. Measure cookies to be 1 Tablespoon of dough each—just use a Tablespoon measuring spoon and your finger to release it onto the sheet. Place 3 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 13-14 minutes or until a cookie springs back when lightly poked with your finger. (That’s how I test them!)
- Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely before glazing.
- Whisk the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice together until smooth. Add more confectioners’ sugar to thicken or more lemon juice to thin, if desired. Spoon over cookies. Top with a sliced almond, if desired. If applied lightly, the glaze will set within a couple hours.
- Glazed cookies will stay fresh covered at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
all-purpose flour, almond extract, lemon juice, lemon zest, ricotta cheese, vanilla extract
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