Lemons are the perfect spring ingredient for cookies. The taste is bright and fresh, just like a great sunny spring day. Looking in my refrigerator, I had a couple of nice-looking lemons. These lemons were begging me to create a new lemon cookie. My thought was, of course, to have lemon juice and lemon zest, but I was looking for something different to add. Doing a Google search for lemon anything, I came across lemon chips. This was new to me, and I really wanted to know more. It turns out it is a site called Nuts.com, and they have Lemon Chips. The picture sold me, and I ordered a bag.
These lemon chips have a hint of white chocolate and are flavored with lemon. They are delicious. I now have three different lemon tastes for my cookie. Wanting something that would keep the cookies moist, I opted for ricotta instead of mascarpone or cream cheese. Ricotta and lemons taste so good together.
Looking at the ingredients, I noticed that this cookie would be really soft, and it needed some texture. Hazelnuts are not a nut that I get to use very often, but they go great with my ingredients for this cookie.
I hope you enjoy this week's cookie!!!
Going out to search for tools that I use is getting harder. I am not sure if it is COVID or that I have been doing this for a while, and they are discontinuing the items I use.
Ricotta with Lemon and Hazelnut Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup room temperature Butter unsalted 1 stick
- 1 cup Sugar white 198 g
- 8 oz Ricotta cheese 226 g
- ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 TBSP Lemon juice
- 2 TBSP Lemon zest 2 lemons
- 1 Egg
- 2-¼ cup All purpose flour 270 g
- 1 TBSP Baking powder
- ½ tsp Kosher Salt
- 1 cup Lemon chips
- ½ cup Hazelnuts chopped
Instructions
- Take 2 lemons and zest. Take both lemons and juice them into a separate bowl. Weigh or measure the sugar and set aside. In another bowl, weigh or measure the flour, baking powder, salt and run a whisk through to blend.
- In a stand or handheld mixer, add the sugar and butter and beat on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides, then add the Ricotta and blend for a minute. Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla extract, and blend for a minute or two. Crack the egg into a small bowl to make sure there are no eggshells before adding it to the cookie dough. Stop and scrape down the side and across the bottom to incorporate all the wet ingredients.
- Turn the mixer on low and gradually add the flour mixture till incorporated. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the sides to get all the flour and then add the lemon chips and hazelnuts to the bowl. I only turn the mixer on for about 30 seconds. Take the bowl off the stand and make sure the lemon chips and hazelnuts are distributed evenly throughout the cookie dough by turning the cookie dough over a couple of times using s spatula. Cover lightly and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Preheat your oven to 350°, and line two cookie sheet pans with parchment paper. Using a medium cookie scoop, add 12 scoops to a cookie sheet pan. Bake for 12-14 minutes. Leave them on the cookie sheet pan for a minute or two before moving them to a cooling rack. This recipe makes 2-½ dozen. Do not store in sealed containers; ricotta needs to breathe.
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