Italian Ricotta Cookies Recipe (2024)

This post first appeared on Yellow Bliss Road where I am a contributor.

Fluffy and oh so tasty, this Italian Ricotta Cookies Recipe is one you’ll treasure for years! Topped with vanilla glaze, these cookies just beg to be eaten!

When it comes to holiday baking, Italian Ricotta Cookies have a special place in my heart. These little guys are so poppable and soft! Topped with a sweet vanilla glaze, these cookies fly off the plate at all our holiday parties.

They’re one of my favorite desserts to surprise the boys with. Well, these and this shortbread cookies recipe. They ask for them almost every month. Not cake, not candy, these cookies.

When it comes to baking, I’m a cookie girl. Hand down. They’re my desert island dessert. Sure, a cake is great and I choose cheesecake as my birthday cake every year, but nothing beats a great cookie!

These Ricotta Cookies are one of the best cookies I’ve ever eaten.

They’re fluffy, but not crumbly. There’s a great mouthfeel from the ricotta baking into the cookie dough.

And they’re topped with sprinkles! Who can resist a cookie with sprinkles?! Not me.

What’s with putting cheese in a cookie? I get it. It’s a little weird, but no more odd than adding cream cheese.

Take these cream cheese chocolate cookies for example. Completely delicious and loaded with tangy cheese.

The only difference here is the ricotta doesn’t add any tangy flavor, but it keeps the cookies so light and fluffy!

This recipe makes about 5 dozen cookies, and it’s a good thing! You’re going to want to share them with everyone. Or hoard them all for yourself. I’m not judging.

Ingredients for Italian Ricotta Cookies

Ricotta Cookies

• All-purpose flour
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Unsalted Butter
• Sugar
• Eggs
• Ricotta cheese
• Vanilla extract

Vanilla Glaze

• Confectioners sugar
• Unsalted butter
• Vanilla extract
• Milk

While I usually end but baking these ricotta cheese cookies around Christmas time, they all so good you’ll want to make them all the time! Just play with the sprinkles for a festive look.

• Red, green, and white sprinkles for Christmas.
• Red, white, and blue for the 4th of July.
• Rainbow nonpareils for everyday munching.

The holiday excuses to bake up these little guys are endless. 😉

How to Make Ricotta Cookies

1. Start by mixing together the flour, baking soda, and salt for the cookie dough. Set this bowl aside for now.
2. Next, beat together the butter and sugar in a large bowl. It’ll get pale and look fluffy after about a minute.
3. Add the eggs, vanilla, and ricotta to the butter mixture. Then mix everything together until it’s fully incorporated.
4. After that, add half of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Mix that together until the flour just finishes mixing in. Then you’ll pour in the rest fo the flour mixture and mix until everything is combined. Don’t over mix!
5. Take any dough stuck to the beaters (or stand mixer paddle) and add it back to the cookie dough in the bowl. Cover the dough in plastic wrap, sticking it right to the surface of the dough. Place your mixing bowl in the fridge for at least 2 hours. You can leave it for up to 2 days if you need to.
6. When you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
7. Grab a small cookie scoop, or a 1 tablespoon measuring spoon, and scoop out the chilled cookie dough. Make sure to leave about 1 1/2 to 2-inches between your cookies. They’re spread a little bit.
8. Bake the cookies from 12 to 15 minutes, just until the bottoms are golden brown. Take your cookies out of the oven and transfer them to wire cooling racks to cool down to room temperature. Continue this process until all the cookie dough has been baked off.
9. Once the cookies are all cooled down, make the glaze by. To do this, add powdered sugar, vanilla, and melted butter to a medium mixing bowl and whisk everything together. It’ll be kind of clumpy, that’s okay.
10. Next, add 3 tablespoons of milk to the bowl and whisk in the milk. The glaze should start to loosen up and smooth out. You can add more milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the glaze is runny but not thin. You want a thick donut glaze consistency.
11. Dip the top of each cookie in the glaze and then return the cookies to their cooling racks. (place them over a baking sheet or waxed paper to catch the dripping glaze!) Add some sprinkles on top, let the cookies sit so the glaze can harden a bit, and then pop a couple! For quality control purposes of course.

What can I use ricotta cheese for?

These cookies! Obviously. But that’s not all! There are so many great recipes that use ricotta cheese!

One of my favorites are these Lemon Ricotta Fritters dipped in some blackberry jam. OMG. So good!

Can you freeze Italian cookies?

You can totally freeze these cookies before or after baking based on your baking needs.

Freeze Before baking

• For freezing, freeze the scooped dough on a baking sheet for a few hours. Then you can put the dough into a plastic storage bag and freeze for up to 2 months.
• To bake after freezing, line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. Place the frozen cookie dough on the sheet pan about 2-inches apart. Thaw the cookie dough at room temperature for 30 – 60 minutes and bake as directed.

Freeze After Baking

• Place the baked and glazed cookies on a baking sheet and pop that in the freezer. Once the cookies are frozen, transfer them to an airtight container. Layer the cookies in the container with waxed paper in between the layers.
• Ready to have some cookies? Place the container (or your desired number of cookies) in the fridge and let them thaw overnight. So easy. So tasty. You’ll love ’em!

More Craveable Treats That Use Cheese!

• Orange Ricotta Dutch Baby
• No Bake Chocolate Lasagna
• Strawberry Pretzel Salad
• More dessert recipes…

More of My Favorite Christmas Cookies!

• Christmas Pinwheel Cookies
• Scottish Shortbread Cookies
• Chocolate Andes Mint Cookies
• Christmas Crinkle Cool Whip Cookies
• 5-Ingredient Vanilla Almond Snowball Cookies
• More Christmas ideas…