Advent Baking Week 2 – Orange Ricotta Cookies with Dark Chocolate (updated)

People.  If you don’t bake any other cookie this year, bake THIS one from Two Peas & Their Pod (a favorite place of mine to hang out). I’m a bit at a loss for words to describe them.  They’re puffy and moist and cakey and a little dense (but not heavy).  They’re fragrant with orange zest.  Not too sweet.  Coated in an orange juice glaze.  Drizzled with dark chocolate (I used the Ghiradelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chips – melted them in a Ziploc bag which I know you’re not supposed to do, then snipped the corner and liberally drizzled the chocolate over them). Angharad took some into work and came home with an empty tray and a bunch of requests for the recipe; Iseult announced that her friends devoured hers and would I please make more.  You bet I will. This is one of those recipes that I can see myself making over and over again and I can’t recommend it strongly enough. For those wondering why I’m not posting the actual recipe here, well, I thought I’d use this time to steer folks over to some of the sites I love.  Hopefully y’all will discover other delicious recipes that have your family and friends clamoring for more.

Edited to add a couple notes.

• I used a large naval orange and a very fine microplane to zest it; ended up with about 1Tbsp. orange zest.
• I used my OXO Good Grips Medium (1.5 Tbsp.) cookie scoop and they came out perfectly.
• Bake these on parchment paper for a couple reasons – (1) they don’t stick and (2) you can slide the cookies on their sheet of parchment onto cooling racks and let them finish cooling there. But that’s not all. Just glaze them while they’re still on the parchment and you’ll have a lot less mess.
• Finally – I needed a bit more orange glaze than the recipe called for and made up a little extra (1 Tbsp orange juice to 1/2 cup powdered sugar)Enjoy!
  

  The photo just does not do them justice. They’re one of the best things I have ever baked

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