No matter where you go during this time of year, it’s difficult to escape all of the lights, decorations and feelings of holiday cheer. One of my favorite parts of the holiday season is definitely the food — especially the sweets. And no matter how busy I may be this time of year, I like to take a bit of time to bake some of my favorite cookies to share with friends and family.
My absolute favorite cookies of all time are my grandmother’s delectable ricotta cookies. All year long I dream about these cookies — there is nothing quite like them. When I first learned that ricotta was actually a type of cheese and that I was technically eating cookies made out of cheese, I might have freaked out a little bit. But ricotta is very mild and only serves to make these cookies moist and soft. These cookies are cakey, golden, sweet — but not too sweet — and simply delicious.
My grandmother used to make these ricotta cookies for my dad and grandpa every year during the holiday season. Growing up, they became a staple in my family’s home and I loved helping my dad make them. Once we finished mixing the dough, we would roll spoonfuls of it into walnut-sized balls so that they would bake into little cakey domes. The dough gets pretty sticky and my hands would always be completely covered.
When my grandmother would make these, she iced them with a traditional anise-flavored glaze. My dad and I used to have fun adding drops of different food coloring to the icing in order to create several different colors of cookies. Our cookies would come out red, green, pink and — as my dad has always been a huge Cavalier fan — orange and blue. Several years ago, my mom came across a recipe for an orange buttercream frosting that is sweet and citrusy and now we put this on top of the cookies instead of the anise glaze. It makes the already wonderful cookies even more heavenly.
This time of year was my grandmother’s absolute favorite and she loved to make it extra special for my dad when he was growing up. I never had the opportunity to meet her, but baking her cookies each year makes me feel close to her. She had an immense love for people that she often displayed through her cooking and baking. She loved to feed people and make sure they left her home full. I hope one day to be like her in this way. For now, I will continue to bake her delicious cookies and cannot wait to share them with friends. If you want to try out a new cookie recipe this holiday season, I highly recommend these.
Ricotta cookies:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, mix 4 cups flour, 1 tsp. salt and 2 heaping tsp. baking powder. In another bowl, cream 1/2 lb. butter, 2 eggs, 2 cups sugar, 1 lb. ricotta cheese and 2 tsp. vanilla with a mixer. Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the creamed ingredients until a dough forms. Roll the dough into walnut-sized balls. The dough can be sticky, so it helps to flour your hands between rolling each cookie. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool slightly and then frost.
Traditional icing:
Combine 1/2 a box of confectioner sugar, 2-3 drops of anise extract and several tsp. milk slowly. Stir until consistency is smooth and glaze-like. Add food coloring of your choice! Spoon icing over warm cookies.
Orange buttercream frosting:
In a bowl, beat 1/3 cup of butter until fluffy. Gradually add 2 cups of powdered sugar, beating well. Slowly beat in 1/4 cup of orange juice and 1 1/2 tsp. of vanilla. Then slowly beat in 2 1/2 more cups of powdered sugar. Frost cookies.
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