Last week my lovely little Luca had to make something for Food Technology of his choice, related to Easter, they could remake the Easter biscuits that they had already made in school but it was an exercise to inspire parents to bake with their children at home as we were asked to practice with them before the lesson. I was more than happy to oblige, I love baking with him and of course it was going to have an Italian theme.
We looked at lots of recipes but it had to be fairly straight forward and also fit into the one hour lesson, so hot cross buns and Simnel cake were off the menu !! Luca decided on these lovely Italian Easter Biscuits, made using ricotta, they are so fluffy and light and so dainty with there iced tops and pretty sugar sprinkles. I would of added a little lemon juice to the icing for added flavour, but for the lesson it was best to keep things simple.
Luca seems to of inherited my ability to bake and they came out beautifully, I think he has watched me and helped me so many times over the years that it just comes naturally to him.
So if you are looking for something fun and simple to make with your little ones over the Easter holidays these are just perfect, they will love getting there hands dirty making the dough balls, we used a tablespoon measuring spoon for the sizing and moulded them by hand and you just know that little ones will have a ball with the sprinkles.
Plus an added bonus for the adults, a fun little biscuit to serve with coffee when having friends over, or they make a lovely gift to take to an Easter dinner or get together, gift wrapped in a pretty cellophane bag or gift box.
Buona Pasqua
Makes 36
2 cups (250g) white caster sugar
1 cup (230G) butter, softened
15 ounces (500g) ricotta cheese
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
4 cups (500g) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups (190g) icing sugar
3 tablespoons milk
Sprinkles
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, with the mixer on a low speed, beat the caster sugar and butter until combined. Increase speed to high and beat until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Reduce speed to medium and beat in the ricotta, vanilla and eggs.
Reduce speed to low. Add flour, baking powder and salt; beat until dough forms.
Measure the dough by level tablespoons, about 2 inches apart; onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 15 minutes or until cookies are very lightly golden (cookies will be soft). With spatula, remove cookies to wire rack to cool.
When cookies are cool, prepare icing. In small bowl, stir icing sugar and milk until smooth. With small spreader, spread icing on cookies; place a candied cherry piece on top of each cookie or sprinkle with coloured sprinkles.
If using lemon juice to flavour the icing, I would use water instead of milk.
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