Lemon Ricotta Cookies

Sorry... I've been having to work out a ton of pre-surgery details and haven't had much blogging time. Things have been rather hectic around here!

I am a huge lemon fan and when it was time for me to make more cookies for the Walden House, I wanted to do something lemony.  I found this recipe for Lemon Ricotta cookies and they are very good.  One lady requested that I keep her in supply with them since she loves them so much!

Lemon Ricotta Cookies
adapted from Giada De Laurentiis
        yields about 4 dozen cookies
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 (15-ounce) container part skim ricotta cheese
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 lemon, zested
powder sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
In a large mixing bowl, combine butter and sugar and cream together until light and fluffy.
One at a time, add the eggs and mix well to combine.  Beat in the ricotta, lemon juice and zest.
Stir in the dry ingredients.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper, or silpat. Spoon cookie dough onto prepared sheets ( I use my 1 1/2 tablespoon scoop) and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and dust with powder sugar.  Let cookies cool completely before removing from tray.

Spinach and Ricotta Manicotti

I'm back and recovered!  What a fun time that was... NOT!  My belly button is still sore.  

I'm telling you this, things are not meant to come out of your belly button!  'Nuff said.

I am just thrilled to be back in the kitchen again.  I don't know why it wasn't as much fun when the kids were growing up.  Well, maybe I do.  They are a lot less picky at their adult ages than when they were kids.

For dinner I made up some Spinach and Ricotta Manicotti along with some 90 minute bread. Both are very easy to make and allowed for me to cook between loads of laundry.  I saw a recipe for the Spinach and Ricotta shells but I didn't want to stuff a bunch of shells; The Manicotti was easier. To make it a lot more easy, one could easily use it as the filling for a meatless lasagna. I combined a couple different recipes and made my own Marina sauce.

Spinach and Ricotta Manicotti

adapted from Real Simple, Spoon Fork Bacon

and Allrecipes.com

Sauce:

1 medium onion, diced

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup white wine

1  28-ounce can crushed tomatoes

4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon dried basil

2 teaspoons dried oregano

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon Cayenne

Filling:

2  15-ounce containers ricotta

2 cups baby spinach, chopped

1/3 cup chopped Parsley

1 tablespoon fresh thyme, minced

1 egg

1 shallot, minced

Salt and Black pepper, to taste

1/2 cup grated Mozzarella

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Manicotti:

1 box Manicotti (mine yielded 14 shells)

1/3 cup Parmesan, grated

1 cup grated Mozzarella

Directions:

In saucepan, cook onion in olive oil until slightly translucent; add garlic

 and continue cooking 1 minute more.

Deglaze pan with whitewine.  Add crushed tomatoes and remaining

sauce ingredients.   Let cook for about twenty minutes.

Cook Manicotti according to box directions.

To make filling;  chop spinach.  I like to wilt my spinach in a saute pan.

In a mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients and mix well.

  Add spinach and mix thoroughly.

Fill a piping bag with ricotta filling and pipe into  cooked manicotti. I find that

inserting the piping bag half way and filling as I am pulling out works best.
I then turn it around and fill the other half using the same method.

In a 9-inch x 13-inch pan, add a scoop or two of the marinara sauce to the bottom of the pan.

Top with filled manicotti.  Add remaining marinara sauce to the top of the manicotti and top with remaining Parmesan and mozzarella cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees F., for twenty minutes.  Let set five minutes and then serve.