Welcome To My Blog!

For the past year, I've had the experience of being a part of the Niagara Falls Boys and Girls Club Cookbook Committee. Our committee is in the process of finishing our cookbook, A Stir In The Mist: Tastes and Traditions of Niagara Falls. It is a collection of recipes from the Niagara Falls community and local restaurants. All proceeds from the sale of this book will go directly to the Niagara Falls Boys and Girls Club. Just recently I have relocated to Ohio, but still wanted to be involved with the book. After watching the movie Julie and Julia, I was inspired to share the great recipes from our cookbook and the experience I had making each of them. I hope you will enjoy the journey I will take stirring my way through A Stir In The Mist!

Let the "stirring" begin!

Well I have started this venture through the cookbook. First things first, each recipe I do will only be a little story about the steps it took to get to the final product. There will be no ingredients given out and no steps to how I got every great tasting recipe to turn out so delicious. That is for you to find out when you purchase or when someone else purchases"A Stir in the Mist" for you!!

I will apologize now for any grammar or punctuation mistakes I may make. I know I am coming from a family of educators, therefore I should know better about these things, but I may make a few mistakes. Soo lets get started....

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Howe's Ricotta Cheese Cookies

Howe’s Cookies was founded in 2007 by Joan and Kevin Howe's.  Joan uses traditional family recipes that have been passed down through the generations. They make many different cookie types and styles.  Everything from homestyle cookies to authentic Italian favorites.  All of their ingredients are hand selected for quality and freshness.
The cookbook committee was lucky enough to receive one of the cookie recipes from Joan to publish in "A Stir in The Mist".
Ricotta Cheese Cookies is the recipe you can get your hands on once you purchase
"A Stir in The Mist".
You may think that cheese and cookies are an odd mix, but wait till you try these! You will change your mind instantly on that opinion.
To make this recipe I used my kitchen aid stand mixer. There are a lot of ingredients that you will be mixing together and once everything is all combined it may get a little to heavy to use a hand mixer.


I purchased my Ricotta Cheese over at Lariccia's Italian Marketplace, this is my Latina away from home! It is a a small store but it carries everything you could ever want for an Italian kitchen.
You will add in the Ricotta cheese once all your other ingredients are all mixed together.
Mix the Ricotta in very well, then you will add all your dry ingredients.
As you are mixing all your ingredients together you can start to grease your baking sheets and get your oven pre heated.
I found that this recipe is very sticky so I used a little spoon to scoop out about a teaspoon and half of the cookie dough. I was not able to roll the dough to make balls so just scoop a little out at a time and place on baking sheet.

To smooth out the top of each cookie before baking, I wiped my hands on a damp paper towel just to moisten the tips of my fingers and I patted down on the cookie dough and just smooth out the top a little. Make sure your hands are not really wet just a little damp this way the dough will not stick to your fingers.
Now it is time to bake!
I baked my cookies for 13 minutes, do not be afraid to take them out even though the top of each cookie still feels moist. They will harden a little more once they sit out on the cooling rack. You do not want these cookies to be crispy or crunchy, you want to take a bite and feel the moistness.
Once you have baked all your cookies. You want to let them sit and cool completely. As they are cooling you can now put together the ingredients for the icing! Before icing each cookie do not be afraid to have a sample of one of the cookies, or two!
Wow are they good.
I found that when I put together the ingredients for my icing I needed to add just a little bit more milk to ease down stiffness. Adding just a little bit more milk may make it a little easier to work with.
You can either ice the top of each cookie with a little knife or back of spoon. I just find that using my finger works a whole lot faster.
(wash your hands pleeease)

Once you have finished each and every cookie, you can let them sit until the icing has hardened.
This recipe can make 6 dozen cookies. I actually made a little over 7, the size of mine may have been a little smaller. The nice part about these cookies is that they are known to freeze well. So instead of keeping the whole recipe out on a dish I will put a couple dozen in a freezer bag and save for a later time when we have company. I hope you enjoy these cookies and Thank you Howe's for sharing such a great recipe with us!