I recently attended my sweet friend’s bridal shower and had a great time playing traditional games and chatting with old friends. As usual, there was a ton of delicious food and among the many types of dishes, there were, of course, many traditional homemade Italian cookies made by moms, aunts and nonnas. Unfortunately, none were gluten-free but looking at all of them I reminisced to a time when I enjoyed them very much. One I really missed was the Lemon Ricotta Cookies with Lemon Glaze. They looked so delicious that I just had to find a recipe to satisfy my craving.

I decided to scour the web for a seemingly authentic recipe and gamble. I would simply swap the regular flour for the gluten-free one, and that’s precisely what I did. I came across a recipe from Giada De Laurentiis posted on Food Network that looked delicious and exactly what I had envisioned and swapped the flour for Robin Hood’s all-purpose gluten-free flour. I was so hoping that they would turn out tasty and delicious! The verdict? Ah-mazing!

The consistency of the dough was a little wet and sticky so at that point I wasn’t sure how they were going to turn out, but to everyone’s delightful surprise they were so incredibly moist and delicious that you’d never know they were gluten-free! One thing’s for sure, nonna would have been very proud!

I wish I could take credit for this recipe but I can’t. Here it is posted below (as well as the actual link at the bottom of the post). The only thing I did was change the flour for Robin Hood’s Gluten-Free flour blend with Xanthan Gum.

The other point worth mentioning that was different for me was the yield. The recipe says it yields 44 cookies (scooping about 2 tablespoons of the dough) but my yield was only 26 so I suspect 1 tablespoon will double the yield and correspond with that of the recipe. Other than that, the recipe was spot on, including the simple to make Lemon Glaze.

If you’d like to leave comments feel free! I always respond.

Enjoy!

RECIPE

          Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (Robin Hood Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Blend (with xanthan gum)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 (15-ounce or 425gr) container whole milk ricotta cheese
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 lemon, zested

          Glaze:

• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 lemon, zested

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Cookies:
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In the large bowl, combine the butter and the sugar. Using an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating until incorporated. Add the ricotta cheese, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Beat to combine. Stir in the dry ingredients.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Spoon the dough (about 2 tablespoons for each cookie) onto the baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes, until slightly golden at the edges. Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 20 minutes.

Glaze:
Combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a small bowl and stir until smooth. Spoon about 1/2-teaspoon onto each cookie and use the back of the spoon to gently spread. Let the glaze harden for about 2 hours. Pack the cookies into a decorative container.

Recipe courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis