Super soft and melt-in-your-mouth tender, these orange chocolate chip ricotta cookies are delicately flavored with fresh orange zest, studded with mini chocolate chips, and topped with a simple citrus icing that sets into the loveliest sheen.
When it comes to cookie textures, chewy cookies are wonderful, and crispy or shortbread-style cookies have their charm, too—but there’s that magical category of soft cookies that bridges the gap between cookie and cake. Think soft, cakey sugar cookies, chocolate madeleines, and soft pumpkin cookies with their unbeatable tender crumb.
Today’s orange chocolate chip ricotta cookies fit right into that category. Ricotta is the secret, just like in my lemon ricotta cookies; it makes the dough incredibly soft, moist, creamy, and tender. Perfect for tea parties, winter baking days, or anytime you want something sweet but not heavy.
And the best part? They stay soft for days (one of ricotta’s true superpowers) and just might taste even better the next day.
Why You’ll Love These Orange Chocolate Chip Ricotta Cookies:
- Ultra-soft, cakey, melt-in-your-mouth texture thanks to the ricotta.
- Bright citrus flavor: Fresh orange zest + juice = the dream team.
- Mini chocolate chips: Just enough chocolate in every bite without overwhelming the orange flavor.
- They stay soft for days, making them perfect for gifting or prepping ahead.
- Icing sets, so you can easily stack and store these.
3 Key Ingredients You Need:
- Ricotta Cheese: When baked in a cookie, ricotta is less about flavor and more about texture. Think: creamy, moist, soft, and airy. Keep in mind that the higher the fat percentage, the creamier the ricotta will be. We strongly recommend using full-fat (whole milk) ricotta for these cookies.
- 1 Large Orange: You need the zest and the juice for the cookie dough, and more juice for the icing. If your oranges are on the small side, you might need 2.
- Mini Chocolate Chips: You need mini chocolate chips for these cookies—regular chocolate chips are too large for these delicate cookies, and affect the texture.
The rest of the ingredients are pretty standard cookie must-haves: Flour, baking powder + baking soda, eggs, butter, sugar, and salt; plus confectioners’ sugar for the glaze.
How These Compare to My Lemon Ricotta Cookies
If you’ve made my lemon ricotta cookies before, today’s version will feel familiar, but they aren’t identical twins. The base texture is the same ultra-soft, cakey cookie, but the orange version is slightly sturdier. We reduced the ricotta and added a bit more flour compared to the lemon recipe because the addition of chocolate chips introduced extra weight and caused more spreading. With this adjustment, the cookies bake up perfectly tender and beautifully rounded. The flavor profile is different, too: where lemon ricotta cookies are bright and zesty, these orange chocolate chip ricotta cookies feel warmer and cozier. The chocolate adds just enough richness to balance the citrus!
In Photos: How to Make the Cookies
Whisk together the dry ingredients.
Cream the butter and sugar. You want this light and fluffy; see how to cream butter and sugar if you want a little refresher on this step. Beat in the egg, ricotta, zest, juice, and vanilla. The mixture will look curdled—this is totally normal for ricotta cookies!
Add dry ingredients. Mix on low just until combined. Don’t over-mix.
Fold in mini chocolate chips. The dough will be thick and sticky, similar to muffin batter.
Cover and refrigerate. Chill the dough for at least 3 hours. The longer it rests, the easier it is to handle when shaping. I prefer chilling it overnight for the best texture.
Scoop, roll, and bake.
My Best Tips for Perfect Ricotta Cookies
Today’s orange 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 that’s why it’s crucial to chill it in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours before baking. If you don’t, the dough will spread all over your baking sheet. Plus, the longer it chills, the easier it is to work with when it’s time to shape the cookies.
- Cookie size makes a difference: Carefully measure out 1 scant Tablespoon of cookie dough per cookie. You can use a small cookie scoop, but anything larger bakes into flat cookies—more like orange ricotta pancakes (and not the good kind!).
- Extra flour doesn’t 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 dough’s favor.
- Expect a sticky dough. Have some flour on hand when you’re scooping and rolling the cookies. You may need to flour your hands periodically, or even wash them a few times as you go. Totally normal and expected.
- Don’t wait for browning—ricotta cookies should remain pale. To test for doneness, lightly poke a cookie with your finger; if it leaves an indent, bake a bit longer. If the surface springs back, the cookies are done.
- Use an icing that sets. To add a little something special (and delicious!), drizzle or spoon orange icing on top of each cooled cookie. You’ll love this orange icing because it eventually sets, making these ricotta cookies easy to store and transport.
More Favorite Citrus Cookies
- Lemon Thumbprint Cookies
- Orange Cranberry Icebox Cookies
- Very Lemon Crinkle Cookies
- Lemon Shortbread Cookies
This recipe is part of my annual cookie countdown called Sally’s Cookie Palooza. It’s the biggest, most delicious event of the year! Browse dozens of cookie recipes over on the Sally’s Cookie Palooza page.
Orange Chocolate Chip Ricotta Cookies
- Prep Time: 3 hours, 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 14 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours, 45 minutes
- Yield: around 48 cookies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
These orange chocolate chip ricotta cookies are unbelievably soft and tender, flavored with fresh orange zest and studded with mini chocolate chips. Topped with a sweet citrus icing, they stay soft for days and make a bright, melt-in-your-mouth winter treat.
Ingredients
- 2 and 3/4 cups (344g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more as needed for shaping
- 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 1/2 cups (300g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 10 ounces (283g) full-fat ricotta cheese, at room temperature*
- 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons fresh orange zest
- 1 Tablespoon (15g/ml) fresh orange juice
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (180g) mini chocolate chips
Icing
- 1 and 1/2 cups (180g) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 2–3 Tablespoons (30-45g/ml) fresh orange juice
Instructions
- Make the cookies: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed until creamy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides 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, orange zest, and orange juice. Beat on medium-high speed until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the dry ingredients and the chocolate chips. Beat on low speed just until incorporated. Do not over-mix. Dough will be very creamy, sticky, and thick.
- Cover dough tightly and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to 2–3 days. I prefer refrigerating overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. (Always recommended for cookies.)
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Scoop 1 scant Tablespoon of dough for each cookie, using the Tbsp measuring spoon and a lightly floured finger to nudge the dough onto the baking sheet. Lightly flour your finger again and reshape each portion into a ball. Cookie size is important; see recipe Note below.
- Bake for 13–14 minutes, or until the top of a cookie springs back when lightly pressed with your finger. The cookies shouldn’t brown much at all.
- Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely before glazing.
- Make the icing: In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and orange juice until smooth. Add an extra 1 or 2 teaspoons of juice to thin out, if desired. Spoon over the cookies. If applied lightly, the icing will set within a couple hours.
- Iced cookies will stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 2–3 days. Baked cookies, cooled but unglazed, freeze well for up to 3 months. (For best taste and texture, icing should be fresh!) Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before glazing.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Citrus Zester | Citrus Juicer | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Cooling Rack
- Ricotta Cheese: We strongly recommend using whole milk/full fat ricotta cheese.
- Can I Use Regular Chocolate Chips Instead of Mini? We don’t recommend it. Regular chips are too large for these delicate cookies and weigh down the dough, causing uneven spreading. Mini chips distribute more evenly and preserve the soft, cakey texture.
- Cookie Size Makes a Difference: Carefully measure out 1 scant 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 me reword that… orange ricotta pancakes.
- Expect a Sticky Dough: Have some flour on hand when you’re scooping and shaping the cookies. You may need to flour your hands periodically, or even wash them a few times as you go. Totally normal and expected.
- Can I Halve This Recipe? Absolutely. Simply halve all of the ingredients for fewer cookies. The instructions, chill time, and bake times stay the same.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
