These lemon ricotta cookies are like little bites of tangy and moist lemon cake. Topped with a sweet lemon glaze, theyโre fresh, light, and hopelessly irresistible. Itโs 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 peopleโs hearts. But thereโs 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: Youโll 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, itโs fairly simple to make a big batch.
- Time: Prep time is over 1 hour, which includes chilling the cookie dough before shaping and baking. Thatโs an imperative stepโthis 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:
- Avoid over-spreading: The dough mixture is a cake batter/cookie dough hybrid and thatโs why itโs crucial to chill it in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour before baking. If you donโt, the dough will spread all over your baking sheet.
- Cookie size makes a difference: Carefully measure out 1 Tablespoon of cookie dough per cookie. You can use a small cookie scoop, but anything larger than 1 Tablespoon yields particularly flat cookies. Or let us reword thatโฆricotta pancakes. And not like the delicious ricotta pancakes you may have tasted beforeโricotta cookie pancakes with crisp edges and undercooked centers.
- Extra flour doesnโt work. We even tried reworking the recipe by adding more flour to help prevent excess spreading, but it was useless. Chilling the cookie dough and measuring 1 Tablespoon per cookie were the only things that work in the doughโs favor.
- Use a glaze that sets. To add a little something special, drizzle or spoon lemon glaze on top of each cookie. We love this lemon glaze because it eventually sets, making these ricotta cookies easy to store and transport.
Some Key Ingredients in Lemon Ricotta Cookies
Ricotta cheese, lemons, and almond extract are really the only special ingredients here โ 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 havenโt 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 thatโs all you haveโthe extra ounce wonโt 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 youโre out of lemons, swap it for an orange or lime instead.
- Almond Extract: We add a touch of almond extract for extra flavor, but itโs 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, todayโs cookies join 25+ others on myย Summer Cookie Recipesย collection page. 🙂
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Lemon Ricotta Cookies
- Prep Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 50 minutes
- Yield: 40 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These super soft, moist, and cake-like lemon ricotta cookies are topped with tangy and sweet lemon glaze. The glaze eventually sets, making these cookies easy to store and transport.
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/2 cups (313g) all-purpose flourย (spooned & leveled)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 and 2/3 cups (335g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 15 ounces (425g) ricotta cheese, at room temperature*
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) lemon zest
- 2 and 1/2 Tablespoons (37ml) fresh lemon juice
Glaze
- 1 and 1/2 cups (180g) confectionersโ sugar, sifted
- 1/4 cup (60ml) fresh lemon juice
- optional: sliced almonds for garnish
Instructions
- Make the cookies: 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 350ยฐF (177ยฐC). Line twoย large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.ย (Always recommendedย for cookies.)ย Set aside.
- Remove cookie dough from the refrigerator. Measure cookies to be 1 Tablespoon of dough eachโjust 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.
- Make the glaze: 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.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions:ย You can chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator for up to 3 days (see step 2), but you can also freeze it for up to 3 months. Allow to thaw overnight in the refrigerator before baking. Unglazed and baked cookies freeze well for up to 2-3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before glazing and serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Cooling Rack | Citrus Juicer | Citrus Zester
- Ricotta Cheese: I tested and enjoyed this recipe using 2% milk ricotta cheese. You can use any fat percentage. Keep in mind that whole milk ricotta is the creamiest. If your container is 16 ounces, no worries– just use it all. The 1 extra ounce won’t make a difference.
- Room Temperature Ingredients: All refrigerated items should be at room temperature so the batter mixes together easily and evenly. Read here for more about the importance of room temperature ingredients.ย
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Reader Comments and Reviews
If you like a lemon forward taste, this isn’t it. I did not add the optional almond extract as I did not want the flavor competition. I tasted the dough and found it lacking, so I added a couple teaspoons of Lemon paste and the zest from the lemon. The baked cookie was still a little bland for my taste. When I made the glaze, I added the zest of a large lemon which helped a lot. The recipe worked well and others will probably enjoy it! I may try it again with orange .
Iโm wondering if I could sub almond extract for anise and omit the lemon juice/zest?
Hi Ashley, we haven’t tested it, but you could try swapping the almond extract for anise, omitting the lemon zest, and using milk instead of the lemon juice. Let us know if you try it.
Hi, I haven’t made these cookies yet but do you think I can make them to be crispier or harder?
Hi Sarah, These cookies are made to be soft and it would require additional recipe testing to make them crispy. However, you may enjoy these lemon ginger cookies which have a crispier edge (and you can bake them an extra minute to make them crispier). You can also leave out the ground ginger, allspice, and crystallized ginger for plain lemon cookies.
These just aren’t the cookies for me. More work than they were worth. An interesting dough and sort of a cool cakey cookie but for the amount of effort, a lemon ricotta cake is definitely where it’s at. With so many cookies in the world to make and try, will not be repeating this one.
Your notes say to freeze these before glazing. What would happen if I froze them glazed?
The glaze can soak into the cookies when thawing and make them a little mushy.
These were ok, but a little too cakey for me. Overall though the lemon flavour was nice! Also a note – I used a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop to make these and ended up with around 68 cookies, not 40 like the recipe says.
Could these be turned into muffins somehow- lemon ricotta muffins?
Hi Jen, we haven’t tested a lemon ricotta muffin, but sounds delicious! You might enjoy these lemon poppyseed muffin seed muffins.
Yum! These were soft, moist, and nice and lemony. Lovely flavor. Will absolutely make again! Thank you Sally ๐
Wow these were delicious! My husband and kids loved them. Who would have known ricotta in cookies would make them so delicious! Thanks Sally!
These turned out great for me! Thank you for another fun new cookie recipe!
I made these this past weekend. I made the dough early Saturday morning and baked on batch around dinner time, I finished baking the rest Sunday morning. I found leaving the dough in the fridge for the extended time made for better handling of the dough. In the future I will make the dough 1 day ahead. I also found the lemon glaze to be too thin and had to add a lot more sugar in order to make it more distinct. So I will reduce the lemon juice by just a little. I did add zest directly into the glaze. I did not have skin on sliced almonds and used the blanched ones I had – they disappeared on the cookie so elected to switch it up with some colored sprinkles. These are a delicious little cake cookie with a lemon forward flavour. I will make them again.
This is a fantastic recipe! I didnโt stir the ricotta, just plopped it in. Left it the fridge overnight. Used a small ice cream scoop and made a little divet before releasing it onto the pan. They came out perfect; glaze too. Would love instructions for the best way to store.
For people with nut allergies What flavoring would you suggest for this recipe other than almond extract?
You can leave the almond extract out, it’s optional!
All this effort & they came out like tiny pancakes.
Should you drain the ricotta?
Hi Paula, no need to drain, just give it a good mix before using.
The taste was delicious texture delicate and then bottom beautifully slight golden however the spread was unexpected as was the flatness. I had the batter in the fridge for a day
Hi Susie, Our post on how to prevent cookies from spreading should be a helpful resource for next time. Thank you for giving these a try!
I made the dough (more like batter) according to the recipe and baked it in a madeleine pan. I did not pre-chill since spreading was not an issue. They turned out great!
These cookies are a huge hit but the glaze is runny even adding almost 1/4 cup more sugar. Is there anything I can add to thicken up the glaze without adding more sugar?
How do you measure lemon zest? Do you pack it into a measuring spoon or lightly scoop it in?
Hi Marjorie, we don’t pack it in (or you might end up with too much). Just lightly scoop and then tap it on the counter to help it “settle.” Hope this helps!
I absolutely love this recipe. I added lemon zest to the glaze as well. Need to know if there is some way to substitute gluten free flour to this recipe?
So glad you love this recipe, Holly! We haven not tested gluten free flour here, but would love to hear how it goes if you do.
I have made these cookies before with GF 1:1 flour and they come out great!
I’ve made this several times with King Arthur 1 : 1 flour and added 1/2 teaspoon of xanthan gum, then followed the rest of the directions as written.
As an experiment, I chilled the dough overnight and baked 1/2 of the dough then baked the rest of the dough 2 days later….the longer the dough was in the refrigerator, the denser the cookie became