Lemon-Cardamom Ricotta Cookies

The other day during one my regular refrigerator clean-ups, I found a container of unused ricotta cheese staring at me. I remembered buying it a while ago when I ventured into making a lemon ricotta cheesecake which I honestly, didn’t quite like. Maybe the recipe I tried was not the best out there. I didn’t want another cake this time and wanted something less complicated and less-time consuming. The first idea that struck me was cookies! And that’s when the Internet came to rescue. I did a quick search online and came up with a bunch of recipes including one from Giada de Laurentiis I liked more than others.

Giada’s recipe was for cookies with lemon glaze. I decided to skip the glaze part as I am not a big fan of light color glazes (dark chocolate glaze? yes please). Instead I dusted my cookies with powdered sugar. I also gave the cookies an Azerbaijani twist by adding just a little cardamom. The flavor of the cardamom married perfectly well with that of lemons.

Overall, I loved everything about these cookies – the taste, the texture (they are so soft), the looks! Below is the recipe with my modifications. If you want to make cookies without cardamom and with lemon glaze, check out Giada’s original recipe. Also, the original recipe says it yields 44 cookies, but I got only 22 ! I was happy with the results anyway – the cookies were not gigantic and were just a perfect size. Enjoy!

LEMON-CARDAMOM RICOTTA COOKIES
adapted from foodnetwork.com

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 teaspoon ground cardamom (8 cardamom pods will give you about this amount of powder)
1 (4 oz / 115 g) stick unsalted butter (softened)
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 (15 ounce /425 g ) container part-skim ricotta cheese
juice from 1 lemon
zest of 1 lemon

1. Preheat the oven to 375F (190C).

2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and cardamom powder. Stir to mix and set aside.

3. In a large bowl combine the butter and sugar. Using an electric mixer beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated. Add the ricotta cheese, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Beat to combine. Stir in the dry ingredients. Mix just until blended.

4. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Spoon the dough (about 2 tablespoons for each cookie) onto the baking sheets. You should be able to get about 22 cookies (more if you put only one heaped tablespoonful). Do not spread the batter, just scoop spoonfuls of it on top of each other. Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space between the cookies as they will spread while baking. Bake for 15 minutes, until slightly golden at the edges. They will be white on top. Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 20 minutes. Once cool, generously dust the cookies with powdered (confectioner’s sugar).

Enjoy! Nush Olsun!

54 Comments

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  1. these look terrifically delicious! i love lemon and ricotta, what an interesting additional taste with the cardamon. definitely want to try these next time i have some leftover ricotta!

  2. your cookies are pictures of perfection! they sounds extremely refreshing, and i LOVE cardamom. thanks for a terrific and unique recipe!

  3. I love anything with lemon in it and I am totally in love with cardamom. They look delicious.

  4. Oh, I love those! Delicious! Your cookies look fantastic!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

  5. Hi Farida! These cookies look amazing! Interesting how they settle when baked, and look like snowball halves! Great shot!

  6. lemon, cardamom and cheese..wonderful combination of flavors Farida..Cookies looks yumm

  7. Love the cookies & love the cardamom twist to them Farida. Funnily enough, I too posted a cardamom something last night…Saffron Kulfi…xoxox

  8. Great cookies, Farida. Just my kind as I love cardamom, my favourite too.
    I also prefer chocolate glazes over the sugar kind. Actually I love chocolate anyhting!:)
    I have another version of lemon cookies up on my blog.
    Nice to have you back posting now.

  9. These are lovely!

  10. They do look like nice and soft cookies. I love your cardamom twist! Cardamom makes enverything better in my opinion!

  11. I love baked goods with ricotta since it provides such creaminess and subtle flavor. These are so lovely.

  12. I’m drooling, can you send me a dozen? They looks so sweet & good.

  13. Wow these look great. I bet they’re a little healthier than cookes made of all butter too.

  14. These sound so good. I often make lemon & cardamom or lemon & cumin cookies but had never thought of adding ricotta … I’ll give it a go.

  15. This is my kind of cookie. They look delicous!

  16. i love lemon-ricotta anything. especially pancakes. these cookies are so elegant!

  17. Hi Farida
    Cookies look great, I have a box of ricotta in the fridge at the moment which im not sure what to do with it, so I’ll try these cookies, hopefully mine looks and taste as good as yours:-)
    Love
    Matin

  18. Farida, I could eat anything with lemon, it’s a weakness of mine. I’ll take lemon over chocolate any day and that’s saying a lot because I love chocolate too. I really have to give these cookies a try.

  19. Fari, I hadn’t even looked at the picture when I started drooling over the main ingredients, but the picture reeled me in!

  20. Wow these are so fantastic, I just adore all of these flavours and they look so pretty too. 🙂

  21. Farida I love cardamom is one of my favorite specially with coffe, but with cookies so nice too. These are so nice and yummy!

    Please Farida May you help me?, I post a recipe and Im not sure in english what is correct, I post ” Stuffed Crepes with prawns” but I have a doubt if I have to say “Crepes stuffed with prawns”” may you tell me what is correct, I asked you because you know spanish. I will return more late. Thanks!!

  22. They are like grown up shortbread cookies! The kind I love and with lemon…hmmmm. If it is any consolation, I don’t really like cheesecakes with ricotta either, they turn out a little gritty for me.

  23. They are beautiful Farida! What do you think would be good substitute for cardamom? I can’t find it here.

  24. oh..those cookies are looking so wonderful!..

  25. cok guzel abla! Yum yum!

  26. ok, farida… you sold me w/ the cardamom! LOVE the idea of adding that. And these look easy enough for even a cruddy baker like me to make!

  27. Hallo Farid,

    Ummm…Usually you had step by step picture gallery. Why not here?

    I’m gonna try and try this at home 🙂 thank you!

  28. sorry, Farida 🙂

  29. Wow, you’ve combined 3 of my favorite flavors in a single cookie. I bet this flavor combo would make a super pancake, too…

  30. oh my what a lovey idea with cardamom and another usage of ricotta cheese! Thanks Farida!

  31. Farida, these look and sound scrumptious! Cardamon and lemon is a nice complement to be sure, and the light dusting with the powdered sugar is more to my tastes than glazing (unless it’s chocolate of course!). 🙂

  32. Dear Farida, many,many thanks you are really my Angel dear, when I have a doubt I will say help” again, hugss!!! Gloria

  33. MIMI: Thank you. Do try these. They are so delicious!

    Grace: Thank you. I will give the credit to Giada de Laurentiis for the originality of the recipe. I just added cardamom and powdered sugar.

    Ivy: Thank you!

    Rosa: I love these too.

    Medena: They are so soft inside. They are like mini sponge cake cookes:)

    Lakshmi: Glad you like it.

    Deeba: Just checked out your Kulfi. Sounds and looks yummy! I have to give it a try one day.

    Aparna: Thank you! To me, sugary glazes are too much. Viva chocolate!

    Chriesi: Thank you!

    Clumbsycookie: They are very soft indeed. Try and see:)

    Susan from Food Blogga: Thank you. I agree. Ricotta cheese works wonders in baked goodies. I also like mascarpone cheese. Hmm, maybe I should try making these with mascarpone one day.

    Helene: I wish I could send a batch over to you. Alas, there is distance between us:)

    Marc @ NoRecipes: There is butter in this one too, but you don’t even know when you eat them. They are so non-buttery in taste:)

    Kitchen Goddess: Give it a try, George. They are soooo good!

    Liliana: I wish I could send you some. Thank you!

    Alexandra’s kitchen: I have never thought of pancakes with ricotta. Great idea! Thank you!

    Matin: Please let me know how your cookies turn. Nushe-jan!

    Chuck: Chuck, I am sure you will handle making these without any problem with your baking talent.

    Marysol: Amiga, glad you like it!

    Gloria: Mi respuesta en tu correo electrónico.

    Tartelette: Glad you like it. Your consolation worked great too:)

    Marija: Thank you! I think just skip cardamom. Can’t think of any substitute for it. Its flavor is distinct. The original recipe didn’t have it, so you are safe?

    Srivalli: Glad you like them!

    Mrs Ergul: Tesekkur ederim! Afiyet olsun?

    Jonathan: I am sure you will do just fine baking these.

    Lala: I have one step shown though – unbaked cookies on a baking sheet. Next time there will be more. I know you are kidding. Or, wait, are you not?:))

    Cheryl: I should try making a pancake with this combo. Sounds good.

    Pixen: Glad you like it. The credit goes to Giada. I’ll take the cardamom part though:)

    Sam: Thank you! Powdered sugar looked so nice on these cookies. I am now thinking about glazing them with chocolate next time:)

    Gloria: You are very welcome. Glad I can be of any help. No, no, I am not an angel, I just happen to live in the CIty of Angels:)

  34. Jeena: Just recovered your comment form SPAM! How weird. Sometimes innocent comments end up where they should not:)

    Glad you like the cookies!

  35. These look terrific. I do love cardamom but I was a little frightened by the flavor of it recently when I tried a cookie recipe that had 3 teaspoons of cardamom in it (really!!!) I’m happy to see that yours only has 1/3 tsp!

  36. this is my first time here…you have a lovely space….
    These look absolutely stunning….. fantastic pics!

    I am pretty new to this blogsphere…jus popped in to say a big hi!

  37. What a lovely cookie! And I’m sold on cardamom–I love it! They look so soft and pillowy.

  38. beautiful cookies!!! they look melt-in-the-mouth.

  39. what fab sounding cookies! bless you that you managed to save tht pot of ricotta before it died. jsut last week i threw out a very old and stinky pot of dying ricotta. it was a very sad day.

  40. Just beautiful cookies and I just love anything with lemon in it !! They look like fluffy clouds in your last pic! A mouth-watering creation!

    Rosie x

  41. hi farida,
    i just love the unique flavor of cardamoms. These melt in the mouth cookies look soo yummy. I got some riccotta cheese sitting in my fridge..guess i could try these tasty treats

  42. Recipe Girl: You are safe with this amount here:)

    Vij: Welcome to my world! Glad you like it here. Enjoy!

    Elle: Thank you!

    Bee: They are very soft indeed.

    Rosie: Thank you. Glad you like it.

    Yasmeen: Let me know if you make these. I am curious how your turn out:) Enjoy!

  43. Hey there, came across your blog from Simply Recipes. Just popping in to say hi.

  44. perfect looking cookies and a great blend of flavors… this is my first time here and its a pleasure… chatkhor is nothing in front of you guys yaa…

  45. How delicate and fragrant they must be. Lovely with an herbal tea.

  46. Nafisa: Welcome to my blog! Enjoy!

    Swati: Welcome and thanks a lot for your nice words. I just checked out chatkhor and it is pretty good, so don’t fee bad:))

    Susan: They are really good with a cup of hot tea.

  47. Wow i simply love them. Looks gr8 and sounds divine.

  48. Hi, I made these today, with the cardamom and glaze. Like you I had a tub of forlorn ricotta begging to be used. I’m so glad I did… the cookies are delicious… like tea cakes!

  49. Hi Farida! These cookies look delicious… I am currently looking for a perfect cookie recipe for my daughter’s “100 days of school” party next week. And I need a recipe that would win hearts and taste buds of a bunch of 6 year olds 🙂 Tell me, are these cookies chewy or crumbly? Is the cardamom taste just a hint or strong?
    Thanks you sooo sooo very much
    PS – your kesmik recipe is fantastic too. My mom used this exact recipe for us when we were little kids, but called it “tvorojok” instead of “tvorog” 🙂 Will definitely make it soon

  50. I was so glad to find this site. I made the cookies yesterday and they were wonderful. I loved the complements from my friends. I got 40 good sized cookies from the recipe. I liked the powdered sugar topping. They looked beautiful on the serving plate.

  51. KAMILA These cookies are soft, sort of like “biskvitniy” texture. The cardamom is not very strong here. You can omit if if you are not sure. Good luck:)

    JULIE – Glad you liked it.Enjoy!

  52. Tried them, they’re great. Cardamom adds a great flavor. Everybody loved these!

  53. I made them 🙂 one the best cookies I’ve ever made! totally different from traditional cookies but still so delicious

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