Ricotta Cheese Cookies

1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C.
2. Lien the baking tray with parchment paper.
3. In a large bowl, combine sugar and butter and beat them with a mixer until creamed. Keep beating for 5 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy.
4. Add in the ricotta along with vanilla extract and eggs and beat at a slow speed.
5. Add in the flour, salt and baking powder into the cheese mixture. Keep on beating until a smooth dough consistency forms.
6. Drop spoonfuls of this dough on the baking tray with each spoonful of dough at least 2 inches apart. Fill the entire tray with the dough spoonfuls.
7. Bake the cookies for 15 minutes until they are lightly brown from the top.
8. Let them cool for 5 minutes and then dust some confectioner’s sugar on top generously. You can also use candy sprinkles to add a pop of color to the cookies.

Trivia

• Ricotta cheese is used a lot in Italian and French desserts as it is a very soft and slightly sweet tasting cheese.
• Cheese was made accidentally around 4000 years ago. Tradition has it that cheese milk was stored in a container made from animal stomach lining. The enzyme of the lining caused the milk to curdle and separate, thus forming the first ever cheese.
• Cookies date back as far as the 7^th century in Persia where they were first made.
• Muslim conquest in Spain brought over cookies and different recipes to Europe.