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Best cookies contain ‘little something special’ By Sarah Lemon Updated: Dec 14, 2022 09:49 AM A A Winning cookie recipes are ready in this week’s food section to inspire holiday baking. Each of the Chicago Tribune’s top three cookies (see the e-edition ) offers a “little something special” that makes it stand out. For example, Rolos candies will find their way into my kitchen this holiday for Caroline Crispino’s Chocolate Salted-Caramel Surprise Cookies. Something tells me my kids will love them, and we’ll have a cleaner kitchen afterward than if we’d baked sugar cookies. More subtle, and a recipe I can keep in my back pocket all year, are these chocolate chip cookies from Italian culinary authority Lidia Bastianich. Ricotta cheese makes the cookies cakey and tender. I love ricotta and often pick up a tub when it’s on sale. But I don’t love using only half of it in a lasagna recipe and finding the rest of the container has gone off before I could find another use for it. This use likely would win my kids over to ricotta, too. These cakey chocolate chip cookies from Lidia Bastianich have a secret ingredient — they’re made with ricotta cheese. [Tribune News Service photo] Chocolate Chip Ricotta Cookies 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature 1 cup granulated sugar 2 large eggs 8 ounces fresh ricotta 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder Kosher salt, as needed 1 cup mini-chocolate chips (or more to taste) Confectioners' sugar, for dusting (optional) Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl with a handheld mixer on high speed until light and fluffy, for about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to medium and add the eggs. Beat until smooth. Add the ricotta and vanilla; beat to combine. Sift the flour and baking powder right into bowl, along with a pinch of salt. Mix on low speed until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand. Drop cookies in heaping tablespoons onto prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between cookies, in three rows of five. Bake, rotating trays from top to bottom halfway through, until cookies are puffed and golden at edges, for about 18 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool. Dust cookies with confectioners' sugar before serving, if desired. Makes about 3 dozen cookies. — Recipe from “Lidia's A Pot, A Pan and A Bowl,” by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali (Knopf, October 2021)