#1,360: Cake Mix Lemon Ricotta Drop Cookies

Well this recipe has been sitting on my pinterest board for three years!  I've been trying to make/remove some of my older pins that need to get tried.  I made Blueberries with whipped ricotta and balsamic syrup (which my kids hated) and I had some ricotta to use up.  So when I came across this recipe, I knew it would be a good one to use the ricotta with.  One of my kids hated these cookies, but the other two were more than happy to eat several of them.  One even kept sneaking cookies off the cooling rack.  These would be SO good with frosting added to it, but I didn't want to fuss with frosting this time.  These aren't anything super special, but they are good...and easy to make.  

¼ cup (1/2 stick) melted butter

1 cup ricotta
1 large egg
1 teaspoon lemon extract (I used a few drops of lemon juice)
Zest of 1 lemon
1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix
Canned or homemade lemon frosting, whipped well (optional) (I omitted the frosting)

Look at that little bugger sneaking
another cookie off the cooling rack!

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees. Position rack in the middle of the oven and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. (I was out of parchment paper so I sprayed with non-stick spray). 

In a stand mixer beat together butter and ricotta until fluffy. Add egg, lemon extract, and lemon zest and beat until combined and fluffy. Add the cake mix and beat until combined.

With a mini or standard size cookie scoop drop dough onto parchment two inches apart. Dunk scoop into a glass of hot water and shake well after every few scoops when the dough gets difficult to release.

Bake a sheet at a time for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned on the bottom. I used a mini cookie scoop; it might take a minute or two longer for standard sized cookies.

Let sit on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes and move to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

Once cool, whip frosting until fluffy and pipe a dollop on top of each cookie.