Italian Ricotta Cookies (Soft Almond-Glazed Cookies)

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Ricotta cookies are my husband’s favorite Christmas cookie, and once you taste them, you’ll understand why. They are impossibly soft – the kind of cookie that practically melts the moment it hits your tongue. The ricotta cheese in the dough is what makes them so tender, and the almond glaze on top adds a sweet, slightly nutty finish that is completely different from the citrus-based frostings you find on most Italian cookies. Topped with sprinkles, they look beautiful on a cookie tray and they disappear fast.

I make these every year for the holidays, and my husband starts asking about them well before December. They have become the cookie he looks forward to most, and he is not alone – everyone who tries them wants the recipe. The texture is what gets people. Most Italian cookies are soft, but ricotta cookies are in a category of their own. They are pillowy, light, and almost cake-like, with a thin glaze that sets just enough to add sweetness without making them sticky.

To make these cookies even more delicious, we love to make them using our homemade ricotta. Once you make them with homemade ricotta, you will never go back to store-bought. It’s a little more time-consuming, but well worth it. The ricotta keeps in the fridge for about a week and can also be frozen. I have found that splitting up the task works best – make the ricotta one day, put it in the fridge, and then make the cookies the next day. I apply this method to all of my more involved recipes, and it keeps things manageable without sacrificing quality.

This is a big-batch recipe that makes about 5 dozen cookies, which is exactly what you want when you’re baking for the holidays. We love to make this recipe at Christmastime along with some of our other favorites – our Italian sprinkle cookies, our Italian wedding cookies, and our coconut macaroons. Between those four recipes, you have a cookie tray that will have people talking about it for weeks.

What Makes Ricotta Cookies So Soft

The secret is the ricotta itself. When you add ricotta cheese to cookie dough, the moisture from the cheese creates steam in the oven, which puffs the cookies up and keeps them incredibly tender. At the same time, the fat in the ricotta adds richness without making the cookies greasy. The result is a cookie that is soft straight out of the oven and stays soft for days. It actually gets better over time as the flavors meld together.

Most Italian cookie recipes rely on butter or oil for tenderness, and they’re wonderful in their own way. But ricotta cookies have a texture that nothing else replicates. They don’t spread much in the oven, they puff up into soft little domes, and they stay that way as they cool. If you’ve ever had a cookie that was soft when warm but turned hard and dry by the next day, these are the opposite. The ricotta keeps them moist long after they come out of the oven.

The other thing that sets our recipe apart is the almond glaze. Many ricotta cookie recipes use a simple powdered sugar and milk glaze, and that works fine. But the almond extract in our frosting gives it a flavor that is distinctive and unmistakable. Almond and ricotta are a classic Italian pairing – you find it in cakes, pastries, and cannoli fillings throughout Sicily and southern Italy. The almond brings a warmth and depth to the glaze that plain vanilla just doesn’t deliver.

What You Need

For the cookies:

Flour: Four cups of all-purpose flour. This is a big-batch recipe, so you’ll need a large mixing bowl. Spoon and level the flour for the most accurate measurement – scooping directly from the bag packs the flour and can make the dough too dry.

Baking powder and baking soda: One teaspoon of each. The combination of both gives the cookies their signature puff without making them taste bitter. Make sure both are fresh – expired leaveners are the most common reason cookies come out flat.

Butter: One cup (two sticks), softened to room temperature. The butter needs to be soft enough to cream with the sugar – you should be able to press your finger into it and leave an impression. If it’s too cold, the dough won’t come together smoothly. If it’s melted, the cookies will spread too much.

Sugar: One and two-thirds cups of granulated sugar. Like most Italian cookies, these are sweet but not overwhelmingly so. The almond glaze adds sweetness on top, so the cookie itself stays balanced.

Eggs: Two large eggs. They bind the dough and add structure and richness.

Ricotta: Fifteen ounces – that’s one standard container. This is the star ingredient. We prefer our homemade ricotta for the best flavor and texture, but store-bought whole milk ricotta works well too. Avoid part-skim – you need the fat for the right texture. If your ricotta is very wet (liquid pooling on top when you open the container), drain it in a fine mesh strainer for 10 minutes before using.

Vanilla extract: Two tablespoons. That’s a generous amount, and it’s intentional. The vanilla gives the dough a warm, aromatic base that works beautifully with the almond in the glaze.

For the almond glaze:

Powdered sugar: One and three-quarter cups. This creates the smooth, thin glaze that coats each cookie.

Almond extract: One teaspoon. This is what makes our glaze different. The almond flavor pairs beautifully with the ricotta and gives the cookies a warm, almost marzipan-like finish that is very traditional in Italian baking.

Milk: Added gradually until the glaze reaches the right consistency. You want it smooth and slightly runny – thin enough to dip the cookies into but thick enough to coat without running off. Start with a tablespoon or two and add more as needed.

Sprinkles: Rainbow nonpareils or any sprinkles you prefer. Add them immediately after dipping each cookie so they stick to the wet glaze.

How to Make Italian Ricotta Cookies

Mix the dry ingredients. Preheat your oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar. In a separate large bowl, cream together the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This takes about 2 to 3 minutes with a hand mixer or stand mixer. The mixture should look pale and airy – this is what gives the cookies their lift.

Add the wet ingredients. Add the eggs, ricotta, and vanilla extract to the butter mixture. Stir until everything is combined. The dough will look wet and a little lumpy from the ricotta – that’s normal and exactly what you want. Don’t try to beat it smooth.

Combine wet and dry. Add the dry ingredients to the ricotta mixture and stir well until a soft dough forms. The dough will be thick and slightly sticky. Don’t overmix once the flour is incorporated – just stir until you can’t see any more dry spots. Overmixing develops the gluten and will make the cookies tough instead of tender.

Shape and bake. Scoop the dough into teaspoon-sized mounds and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet. The cookies won’t spread much, so you can place them about an inch apart. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. The bottoms should be barely golden and the tops should still look pale and soft. Do not overbake – these cookies should stay very soft. They’ll firm up slightly as they cool. Let them sit on the baking sheet for 3 to 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the glaze and finish. In a medium bowl, combine the powdered sugar and almond extract. Add milk a little at a time, stirring after each addition, until you have a smooth, slightly runny glaze. Dip the top of each cooled cookie into the glaze, let the excess drip off for a moment, then place back on the wire rack with the glazed side up. Immediately add sprinkles before the glaze sets. Let the cookies sit until the glaze is completely dry, about 20 to 30 minutes.

Tips for Perfect Ricotta Cookies

Use whole milk ricotta or homemade. Part-skim ricotta has less fat and more water, which will make the cookies less tender. If your ricotta is very wet, drain it in a fine mesh strainer for about 10 minutes before adding it to the dough. Our homemade ricotta produces the best cookies because the moisture content and fat are exactly right.

Split the work over two days. If you’re making homemade ricotta, make it one day and store it in the fridge, then make the cookies the next day. This is my approach for all of my more involved recipes. It keeps things manageable and the ricotta actually firms up a little overnight, which makes the dough easier to work with.

Don’t overbake. Eight minutes is usually the sweet spot for this recipe. The cookies should look slightly underdone when you pull them – pale on top with barely golden bottoms. They continue to firm up as they cool on the baking sheet. If you wait until they look fully done in the oven, they’ll be dry by the time they cool down.

Glaze the cookies when they’re completely cool. If the cookies are even slightly warm, the glaze will melt and slide right off. Let them cool fully on the wire rack before dipping. And add the sprinkles immediately after dipping each one – the glaze sets quickly.

These freeze beautifully. Once the glaze has fully set, layer the cookies between sheets of wax paper in an airtight container and freeze for up to three months. They thaw in about 30 minutes at room temperature and taste just as good as the day you made them. Since this recipe makes about 5 dozen cookies, freezing is almost a given – unless you’re feeding a very large family, which I happen to have experience with.

Storing and Serving

Layer the cookies between sheets of wax paper in an airtight container and they’ll stay soft on the counter for up to a week. They also freeze for up to three months, making them ideal for holiday baking when you’re working ahead. Thaw them at room temperature for about 30 minutes before serving.

Ricotta cookies belong on every Italian-American holiday cookie tray. We make them alongside our Italian sprinkle cookies, our Italian wedding cookies, and our coconut macaroons. Those four cookies together cover every texture and flavor you’d want on a holiday spread – soft and glazed, buttery and powdered, crunchy and toasted. For a more elaborate dessert table, add our cannoli filling piped into store-bought shells and our struffoli for a showstopper centerpiece.

These cookies also make wonderful gifts. Layer them in a tin between sheets of wax paper, tie it with a ribbon, and you’ve got something homemade and personal that people genuinely appreciate. Since this recipe makes about 5 dozen, you’ll have plenty to share and still keep a stash for your own family.

My husband has been requesting these every Christmas for years. The almond glaze, the soft ricotta dough, the sprinkles – they’re simple, they’re beautiful, and they taste like the holidays should taste. And if you make them with homemade ricotta, they’re on another level entirely.

This recipe is from our family cookbook, Roots of Sicily. It has 167 authentic Sicilian recipes and 139 family stories passed down through four generations – from holiday cookies like these to elaborate multi-course feasts. Every recipe comes with the family story behind it.