- Hey, I'm John Kanell
and today on Preppy Kitchen,
we're making soft and caky ricotta cookies.
So let's get started.
First off, let's get those dry ingredients together.
We do not need to turn the oven on yet
because these cookies have some chill time.
All right.
360 grams of all-purpose flour.
That's three cups.
Alrighty.
La, la, la.
(John laughs)
Just had a very interesting phone call before this video.
For leavening, we're adding two teaspoons
of baking powder
and half a teaspoon of baking soda.
That's salt.
This is not baking soda.
And half a teaspoon of baking soda.
In you go.
3/4 of a teaspoon of salt.
If you're using a fine grain salt, use less.
Now we're gonna sift this up and whisk (laughs).
Now we're gonna sift this out and whisk it up.
This is why we sift. (upbeat music)
Because you'd have a giant rock of baking powder,
which does not taste good, in case you're wondering.
Grab a whisk.
Whisk, whisk, whisk it up.
And now we're gonna set this aside
and get onto the wet ingredients,
which include our delicious ricotta cheese.
Mm, this stuff is amazing.
And now it's time for the butter.
Into a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment,
I'm adding 3/4 of a cup
of unsalted, room-temperature butter.
170 grams.
As well as 1 3/4 cups of granulated sugar.
I'm gonna cream this up until it is nice and fluffy.
(mixer whirring) (upbeat music)
If you want, you could cream the butter a bit first,
but this butter was so soft and ready to go.
(mixer whirring) (upbeat music)
I'm actually taking a little break.
We're gonna add two teaspoons of lemon zest.
This will really like lighten and brighten the cookies
and just add a lot of flavor.
And you wanna do this towards the beginning
so that lemon rind gets beat up
and the oils kind of come out and mix with the sugars.
Now mix it up until it is light and fluffy.
(mixer whirring) (upbeat music)
About three minutes on high.
(upbeat music) (mixer whirring)
Let's crack in two eggs, one at a time.
No shells.
If you want, you can do this into a separate bowl.
(mixer whirring)
One tablespoon of a nice vanilla.
(upbeat music) (mixer whirring)
And right now we're gonna scrape that bowl down.
Even though this is actually mixing really well,
it's always better safe than sorry.
If you ever bake a batch of cookies
and one looks like it's totally melty
and one's like up on high,
they were not mixed totally well
and you have some bits with too much butter and sugar
or not enough.
So we want all our cookies to be uniformly delicious,
which is why we scrape the bowl down.
Mix once more.
(mixer whirring) (upbeat music)
So here's the deal.
This is a jumbo pack of ricotta.
Your small container is gonna be just enough.
I'm gonna use a scale so I know exactly what 15 ounces is.
Ricotta cookies are so delicious.
And by the way, ricotta is like one
of the most amazing cheeses.
Does not get enough respect.
People think of it for lasagna,
but it is amazing in baked goods,
like these cookies as well.
You can let me know in the comments
if you've had them before.
Or if, for you, they're a special holiday treat.
(mixer whirring) (upbeat music)
All right, mix this up until it's nice and combined.
The ricotta is really lightening up these cookies
so they melt in your mouth,
while still giving you that amazing texture.
So they're just so nice and caky.
(upbeat music)
Look at that.
It's like clouds.
Delicious.
I'm gonna add my flour mixture in all at the same time.
I was gonna use a cup, but not today.
Just dump it right in.
We're gonna mix this on low until it's just combined.
I'm gonna finish the batter off by hand.
I see a lot of things happening at the bottom of the bowl
that I don't like or respect.
Let's scrape and mix
until everything is just perfectly combined.
And yes, this makes a big batch of cookies.
But you can definitely freeze the dough,
bake it off later.
Or, I mean, cookie party.
Hello!
A friend of ours in town has
the most amazing cookie party every holiday season.
She bakes for days and has like mountains of cookies.
It's like, literally Brian's favorite thing
in the world is her cookie party.
Even though there are a lot of cookies at home,
I'm just gonna put that out there.
Definitely not a shortage of baked goods here.
This is all mixed in.
No nonsense happening at the bottom.
And you can see the dough is softer than soft can be.
This looks like cake batter almost.
Needs to chill for about two hours.
You could also do this overnight.
But once that's done,
we're gonna bake them up.
And make the most delicious icing for them too.
This dough's gonna get a little bonnet
and go to sleep for a couple hours.
Be right back. (upbeat music)
Towards the end of your chill time,
set that oven to 350.
Let it preheat,
and then it's time to scoop those cookies up.
I'm using a tablespoon-size cookie scoop,
but you could use two spoons as well if you want.
Even chilled, it's still pretty soft.
It's just not so crazy soft anymore.
That's the trade off for a light-as-air,
melt-in-your-mouth cookie.
These cookies will spread a bit,
so go ahead and give them about two inches
of space in between.
And then just pop them onto that baking sheet.
You can bake all the cookies up in a few batches,
or you could freeze the remaining cookie dough
either in balls or in one big lump.
Just make sure it's well sealed in a freezer bag.
These are easy, rustic cookies.
If you want, you can use damp fingers
and just corral them back into little balls.
Or they can go right into the oven,
350 for about 11 minutes,
or until the bottoms are just turning golden brown,
but the tops are still nice and light.
There you go. (upbeat music)
My cookies just came out of the oven.
Look at these beautiful clouds.
They're just like, oh.
Come here and take a look at this.
It's like, it's amazing.
They're gonna be delicious.
All the more so with a perfect easy glaze for the top.
Let's whip it up.
Into a medium bowl,
we're adding 1 1/2 cups or 180 grams of powdered sugar.
For the liquid, a few tablespoons of water
and a really nice splash of fresh lemon juice.
If you want, you could add a dash
of vanilla or almond extract.
It really depends on the flavors you want for the glaze.
We're gonna whisk this up and check the consistency.
It should be a really thin glaze
that just runs off the sides.
You wanna have the thinnest coat?
Yes, I should have used a strainer.
No, I didn't.
The seeds are gone.
And this, as you can see,
is a really nice, thin consistency.
These sugars are just gonna be kissed
with a little crunchy sweetness on the outside.
My cookies are all cool.
You can see they're beautiful and light on top.
And the bottoms are just lightly golden
and they are softer than you could ever imagine.
You could dip them,
but they're so delicate, I don't want you to tear them.
So just spoon the glaze over the top.
Let the excess drip,
and then we're going to add a few sprinkles, just on top.
So pretty and easy.
Plop that down and repeat for the remaining cookies.
If you like this video, check out my cookie playlist.
(gentle music)
That was the perfect fluffy bite of cake.
And the lemon is just perfect in it.
I hope you get a chance to make this recipe
and I'll see you in the next video.