This Soft Ricotta Cookie recipe came to me from one of my dad’s coworkers. She got the recipe from a lady from Italy who said it was okay to share the recipe. I’m so glad, because these cookies are really good. Really good, like I ate so many this weekend and my jeans are threatening not to zip. Like I ate the last five cookies for breakfast this morning just so I wouldn’t be tempted anymore! Does anyone else use that logic? And good thing they are so soft, with no noisy crunching required, because yes I did eat five cookies for breakfast in the same room as my boys, without anyone suspecting a thing. Some may call it sneaky, I call it discreet. It’s just one of my many talents, I guess!
I did make one little addition to the recipe, and that is real vanilla bean in the cookies and glaze. You know those petite vanilla scones you can get at Starbucks? I really like those, but depending on the time of day I buy them, they can be a little dry. These cookies taste like I wish those scones did. So I decided to mimick the vanilla bean glaze just like the Starbucks scones.
The vanilla flavor is just right, and I love how the cookies have such a soft, tender texture.
If you’ve never used a real vanilla bean in your baking before, you will need to slice the pod open, and then scrape it with a knife to extract the vanilla caviar. It’s pretty fun, and you can pretend you’re on a cooking show.
David Lebowitz says, Vanilla is the salt of the pastry world, but sometimes it’s nice to let it come out of the background and into the spotlight, so it can have the attention it deserves. And these cookies do just that!
Soft Ricotta Cookies With Vanilla Bean Glaze
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 32 minutes
- Yield: 5 dozen 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
These cookies are super soft and full of real vanilla flavor. I ate way more than my quota this weekend!
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter (2 sticks) softened
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 15 ounces Ricotta cheese
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Caviar of one vanilla bean pod
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
Glaze
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Caviar of one vanilla bean pod
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together butter, sugar and eggs on medium speed.
- Add Ricotta cheese and mix until smooth. Add vanilla extract and vanilla caviar and blend.
- In a medium bowl, mix flour with baking powder and salt.
- Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients on low speed until a dough is formed.
- Drop the dough by level tablespoons onto a baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes. Cookies will just be started to get golden around the bottom edges.
- Remove from baking sheet and place on a cooling rack with parchment paper underneath.
- Spoon glaze onto cookies and allow it to fully set before storing.
Glaze
- Whisk together powdered sugar, milk, vanilla extract and vanilla caviar in a small bowl until smooth.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cookie
- Calories: 107
- Sugar: 9.4g
- Sodium: 86mg
- Fat: 3.9g
- Saturated Fat: 2.4g
- Unsaturated Fat: 1.2g
- Trans Fat: 0.1g
- Carbohydrates: 16g
- Fiber: 0.2g
- Protein: 1.9g
- Cholesterol: 17mg
Kayla says
Hello! I’m looking to make these cookies for my sister in law’s Christmas party this weekend. I’ve never worked with real vanilla bean pods and I’ve never seen them in my local grocery story so, I wanted to know if you’re unable to find a real vanilla bean pod, what are some alternatives and how much of each alternative would be equivalent to one vanilla bean pod?
Julie says
Hi Kayla, if you just leave out the vanilla bean and just do the vanilla extract, these will still be really yummy! I also like to bake with vanilla bean paste if that is available to you. I usually order on amazon.
K'Mauri says
Hi! I made these for my contemporary foods class and they tasted soo good and i wanted to do it for christmas.i don’t want that many cookies i would need like a dozen? I have 2 3/4 cups of all purpose flour could that still work?
Elaine says
These look delicious. I don’t have a bowl mixer, could I use a stick mixer?
Julie says
Hi Elaine – I’m not sure what kind you have, but I think the dough might be too thick for a stick mixer. I do think it would work out fine if you just mixed the dough by hand. Let me know how it goes if you try them!
Choochie Face says
I love this recipe! I had a small container of ricotta left over from the Thanksgiving,and decided to try this recipe,cause I had everything already to make it.I did substitute a bit. I added mini semisweet chocolate chips into 1/2 the batch,and also added cinnamon to the vanilla bean glaze.I also,used 1cup of almond flour/ 1 cup of arrowroot flour/ 1cup of coconut flour/ 1cup of baking flour just to try and cut down on carbs,and it still came out amazing.
Paula Buckingham says
Does it matter if the ricotta is cold or should it be room temperature?
Julie says
Hi Paula, I have never taken the time to let the ricotta be at room temperature. But usually ingredients will blend together more easily at room temperature, so I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt. I hope you enjoy!
Carla Christina says
I just made these cookies and I love them! I split the batter added mini chocolate chips. Now I have cannoli cookies to! Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Linda says
I don’t have vanilla bean. Ant substitute
Julie says
Vanilla extract will be just fine.
Kathy says
Cookies were delicious! I have tried many recipes for this and yours was by far the best. My family loved them.
Kristan says
I made these today and they reminded me of my Italian grandmother. While delicious, they were not pretty—any tips for getting them to look like the photos?
Cherie says
Hi Julie – I’m late to this game in 2019 but I see you’ve been kind enough to answer questions as late as Christmas 2018 so here goes… I’ve seen 3 or 4 recipes for lemon ricotta cookies with the same amount of ricotta (15 oz), sugar (2 cups), and eggs (2). Some called for 1 cup butter, some only 1/2 cup, but they called for only 2 to 2 1/2 cups of flour instead of 4 cups. Frankly I thought that was a lot of ricotta/butter and sugar for only 2 to 2 1/2 cups of flour. Do you have a take on this? YOUR recipe has received TONS of positive reviews so I’m inclined to go with your recipe. I just wondered if you’ve heard of these cookies made with so much less flour? Frankly I WOULD prefer a cookie that was more scone-like and a bit less sweet than flat and soft and overly sweet so your recipe sounds like a good fit for me. Thank you!
Julie says
Hi Cherie! I do love these cookies as they are, but I know everyone has different tastes! I will say that they are scone like in texture but sweeter. The recipe came from a friend whose grandma was from Italy, so she says they are authentic. I do hope you enjoy them if you decide to try them. Let me know!
Diane says
Hi Julie!
Questions: can you explain what vanilla caviar is? How much vanilla extract would you say would be the equivalent to the caviar. I live in a small town and I believe that the extract will be all I will be able to find until I can order some online. Can’t wait to try these!!
Julie says
Hi Diane, vanilla caviar is the tiny seeds that are scraped out of a vanilla bean pod. You can use 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract in the cookie dough and 1/2 teaspoon in the glaze, omitting the vanilla bean pods. I hope you enjoy, we love these cookies!
Lucillevirgilio says
Would like to know why the cookies come out great but after a day covered in a container they get wet and sticky I left them uncovered to dry out
Judy says
I made these last year and absolutely love them. One question, will these freeze well?
Julie says
Hi Judy, so glad you like these cookies as much as I do! Yes you can freeze them – however, if you glaze them prior to freezing, the glaze will become sticky as they thaw. I recommend glazing when you are ready to serve, rather than before freezing.
Adaleigh says
I was just wondering if the glaze dries at all I know it’s a weird question but I like putting cookies in mason jars so I don’t have to worry about them breaking in a plastic bag and I’m just wondering if I have to worry about stickiness.
Julie says
Hi! The glaze does dry, but I do find that as they sit over the next couple of days (depending on the humidity in the air) they can get sticky.
Jennifer says
Quick question – do I put on baking sheet only? Parchment Paper or Cooking Spray or just baking sheet? Thank you!
Julie says
I don’t think I line the pan or spray with these cookies. Hope you enjoy!
Rose panz says
You do need to lightly grease the pan or use parchment paper
Susan says
Just made these cookies. Very good. I used one teaspoon of vanilla bean paste for the dough. I didn’t make the glaze yet because I am freezing these for later. They are pretty good even without the glaze! I also added mini chocolate chips to half the batter.
Karen says
I’ve read many other receipts the dough should be chilled min of 2 hours up to a week and between putting balls of dough onto cookie sheet, to put the unused dough back into refrigerator to keep it cool. This keeps dough and cookies from spreading out. What are your thoughts on this?
Julie says
Karen, you could try chilling the dough if you’d like, but I did not find that necessary. Hope you enjoy!
Molly says
These have been my go-to Christmas cookie for almost a decade now.
Absolutely love them! And so do all the recipients I bake them for 🥰
Carmen says
Hi Ms. Julie, your cookies look so delicious. Definitely will make this for Christmas. I wanted to know if I can use vanilla bean paste as a substitute for the vanilla pod.