There’ll be no tandem post this week, but I understand we’ll have a special guest for next week’s post! Nance has been hard at work redesigning the site; doesn’t it look awesome? I haven’t had a chance to poke around as much as I’d like, so I’m sure it’s even more awesome than I realize!
To tide you over ’til next week, here’s a recipe. I found this recipe for Cannoli cookies somewhere online (I suspect Pinterest), and have made multiple batches since then. In fact, I like them so much that I’ve always got a few in the freezer, because they freeze beautifully and they’re small so they thaw out quickly (not that I always wait for them to thaw out, you understand.)
The taste reminds me very much of Terry’s Chocolate Oranges – they’re orangey and sweet, but not overly so. They aren’t my very favorite cookies – I have a Cooking Light chocolate chip cookie recipe that will forever be my favorite, and a scan through the site shows me that I actually haven’t posted that recipe here, which gives me an excuse to make a batch of them so I can do so – but they’re a very close second.
The original recipe came from FineCooking.com.
Your ingredients:
All-purpose flour, baking soda, salt, softened butter, ricotta (whole-milk, not any of that reduced-fat nonsense), sugar, grated orange zest, vanilla, an egg, and chocolate chips. Sometimes I use mini chocolate chips, and sometimes I use regular sized ones because that’s the kinda wild gal I am.
You know how to make cookies – I KNOW you do! – so this will all seem old hat to you. And it is. There’s nothing confusing or baffling about this recipe.
Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl, until well blended.
With a mixer – whether stand or hand-held, makes no nevermind to me – beat the butter and ricotta on medium speed ’til it’s well-blended and fluffy, 2 – 3 minutes. Add sugar, orange zest, and vanilla, and beat another 3 minutes. Scrape the bowl down, add the egg and beat it. Just beat it.
Add the flour mixture and beat on low so that you don’t end up like this.
When the flour is almost completely blended in, add your chocolate chips and mix for a minute longer so that the chocolate chips are distributed evenly.
Scrape the dough down from the sides, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and then refrigerate ’til the dough is slightly firmer. It takes about half an hour if you’re in a hurry, but I usually leave it for an hour or more.
When the time is up, line your cookie sheets with baking liners or parchment (I always use parchment) and drop the batter by rounded tablespoons about 2 inches apart. I use my handy-dandy cookie scoop. I love that thing.
Okay, listen. If you get hungry and pop one of those little balls of cookie dough right into your face, I’m not telling anyone. And you should, salmonella be damned, because it is SO FREAKIN’ GOOD.
I get around three dozen cookies from each batch.
And as mentioned, they freeze wonderfully. I’ve still got six cookies in the freezer from this batch, which I made at the beginning of January. In fact, they’re calling my name, so SEE YA. I’ve got cookies to thaw out!
- 2 cups (9 oz) all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 4 oz (1/2 c.) unsalted butter, softened
- ¼ c. whole-milk ricotta, at room temperature
- 1 c. granulated sugar
- 1 tsp finely grated orange zest
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 lg egg, at room temperature
- ¾ c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
- In a medium bowl whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside.
- With a stand or hand mixer, beat the butter and ricotta on medium speed 2 - 3 minutes, until fluffy.
- Add the sugar, orange zest and vanilla, and beat another 3 minutes.
- Add the egg and beat until blended. Scrape the bowl.
- Add the flour mixture and mix on low. When it's almost completely blended, pour in the chocolate chips and mix just until combined.
- Scrape the sides of the bowl, cover with plastic, and refrigerate 30 - 60 minutes.
- Heat the oven to 350ºF. Line cookie sheets with silicon pan liners or parchment paper.
- Drop the batter by rounded tablespoons about 2 inches apart onto the line baking pans.
- Bake until the cookies are light golden, about 15 minutes (the cookies don't spread out very much).
- Let the cookies cool on the sheets on racks for 5 minutes, then transfer them to racks to cool completely.
- Store at room temperature or freeze in an airtight container. I freeze mine in a single layer, in a very large Ziploc bag.