Sugar and lemon ricotta cookies

Basically, I completely forgot to post about these at the appropriate time (yes, it was two months ago), but I guess I just got too excited posting about other dishes. That's...good, right??? Or at least, forgiveable?

A sampling of the finished iced sugar cookies I made for
Christmas 2009. Note the sure-to-become canonical Christmas lobster.
The flamingo might just be too much of a stretch for Christmas.

The sugar cookies are a roll out the dough, cut out shapes, bake them, then ice and decorate them sort of cookie. If I have a tradition for holiday baking, this is my mainstay. The cookie recipe I use is basic and delicious - heavy on the butter--and the icing always comes out beautifully smooth and glossy - I believe this is thanks to the powdered egg whites in the icing.

Just-glazed lemon ricotta cookies, sitting innocently on the rack,
unaware they are about to be greedily devoured (i.e., eaten by me,
because of course I need to "test" them to make sure they taste OK
before anyone else can have any)

If you're cool with cakelike cookies and aren't too prone to getting into semantic arguments, the lemon ricotta cookies are a dependable bet. The fresh lemon flavor itself is prominent but not overly assertive, and the lemon glaze adds a nice but not overpowering sweetness. I love lemon and I like both cake and cookies and see no problem with combining the two, so I thought these cookies were great but can see why some might not be that into them.