Ricotta Lemon Cookies

Don't these cookies look so fun? And wait until you taste these soft, little pillows of yumminess in your mouth. They're absolutely delightful! I got this recipe from an online website. And thought every aspect of the recipe was right on. Other than I wasn't too sure about the really small amount of butter and shortening in the icing though. I think it helped make the icing look glossy and helped the icing dry without cracking. Oh, and my kids loved these. You can even get the younger ones to help put the sprinkles on.

Ricotta Lemon Cookies
1/2 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 lb. ricotta cheese
1 teas. vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1/2 teas. baking powder
1/2 teas. baking soda

Icing:
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 teas. butter, softened
1/4 teas. shortening
2 1/4 cups powdered sugar

Colored sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Grease baking sheets or line with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in egg, add ricotta cheese and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool completely before removing from baking sheets.

For the icing: Combine ingredients into a small mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly to remove any lumps. Dip each cookie into the icing and place a small pinch of sprinkles on top. Let cookies drip and set on wire racks. Makes 40-50 small bite-size cookies.

Ricotta Cheese Muffins

I absolutely love the versatility of this muffin recipe. And don't you just love this model of a muffin in my photo? Talk about photogenic! This recipe has become an instant favorite in our household. My kids look forward to them almost every Saturday. We highly suggest the sugar streusel on top...yum! Whoa, getting sidetracked there. As I was saying... I love it's versatility. You can add grated lemon or orange rind to it to change the flavor up. Or even a teaspoon of your favorite jam in the middle of the batter. Which is very easy to do: layer some of the batter at the bottom of our muffin cup, put your jam on next and then some more batter on top, sprinkle the streusel over the top and bake. You can even add some cinnamon to the batter and streusel and have cinnamon and sugar muffins. How about some chocolate chips, fresh blueberries or chopped dried fruit? The possibilities are at your discretion. I hope that this basic muffin recipe will become a family favorite in your house as it has in ours.

Ricotta Cheese Muffins

Streusel:
3 tbls. white sugar
2 tbls. all-purpose flour
1 tbls. butter, melted

Muffins:
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 teas. baking powder
1 teas. baking soda
1/2 teas. salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 teas. vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup ricotta cheese
Optional: 1 tbls. grated lemon or orange rind
Optional: 1/2 teas. ground cinnamon
Optional: fruit preserves for layering

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F). Prepare muffin pan with cupcake liners and set aside.

Combine and thoroughly mix streusel ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

In a medium sized mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir using a whisk and set aside. In a small mixng bowl combine buttermilk, butter, vanilla, beaten egg and ricotta cheese. Stir liquid mixture using whisk. Make a well in center of flour mixture and pour in liquid mixture. Stirring just until moist. Fold in your optional ingredients at this point. Do not overmix. Some lumps are okay. Spoon batter into prepared muffin pan. Sprinkle about 1 teas. of sugar streusel over top and bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes until a light golden brown. Remove muffins to a wire rack to cool. Makes 12-15 muffins.