Lemon Ricotta Cookies for Easter

For my birthday I got a box of baking goodies, including little Easter-themed sugar figurines. It was perfect timing: last weekend Seth and I watched an episode of Everyday Italian on the Food Network, during which Giada was baking Lemon Ricotta Cookies. Since the cookies have a lemon glaze, I figured this would be a good opportunity to use the figures.

It's an easy recipe, and I just made two minor adjustments:

• The recipe says to spoon about 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie onto a baking sheet. On the show, Giada appeared to make smaller cookies, so I only scooped about 1/2 tablespoon.


• I also adjusted the baking time down to 12 minutes from 15 (so that the edges were slightly golden) since I scooped out smaller mounds of dough

These are light, soft cookies. I happen to love lemon, so these are right up my cookie-alley.

Here is the recipe:

Lemon Ricotta Cookies with Lemon Glaze
by Giada De Laurentiis

INGREDIENTS
Cookies
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 (15-oz.) container whole milk ricotta cheese
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 lemon, zested

Glaze
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 lemon, zested

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Cookies
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt.

In a large bowl, combine butter and sugar. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating until incorporated. Add the ricotta cheese, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Beat to combine. Stir in the dry ingredients, about 1/3 at a time.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Spoon the dough (about 2 tablespoons per cookie) onto the baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes, until slightly golden at the edges. Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 20 minutes.

Glaze
Combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a small bowl and stir until smooth. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon onto each cookie and use the back of the spoon to gently spread. Let the glaze harden for about 2 hours.