Imagine making peach cookies that are so realistic that, at first glance, people mistake them for real peaches. That’s the fun of these Italian peach look-alike cookies or pesche dolci. They are shortbread stuffed with ricotta cheese and coated with sugar. You don’t have to be an artist to create them either. I made larger cookies to photograph, but found that no one wants to eat a cookie the size of a baseball! You should probably make them the size of walnuts or apricots. Of course, the larger they are, the more realistic they look.
Work the dough and then roll it into a smooth ball. Place it on parchment paper on a cookie sheet and press down to flatten the underside, while still keeping the dome intact.
Once baked, and still a little warm, turn the cookie over and carefully cut out the bottom.
Then gently remove as much cookie as you can manage. Careful, they break easily!
Spoon in the ricotta filling.
Add an almond to represent a peach pit. Squeeze the two halves together to form a ball.
Dip half the ball into the yellow food coloring mixed with milk. Then dip the other half into the red coloring. Always go from yellow to red so the red dye doesn’t get into the yellow.
Roll the cookie in granulated sugar to hide cracks and imperfections. It also looks a little like peach fuzz.
Stick a toothpick in between the two halves and make a little hole to stick a leaf or a little sprig of mint.
Be prepared for smiles and exclamations, and no one eating them because they just like to look at them!
Also, experiment with the filling. Add chopped nuts, or go with something different, such as peach preserves, cream cheese instead of ricotta, or even add whipped cream.
A little peach liqueur can be added to the dyes to impart a peach taste.
Keep these cookies refrigerated and eat them within a couple of days.
Peach Cookies
Equipment
- parchment paper
- Baking Sheet
Ingredients
Filling Ingredients
- 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons ricotta cheese
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- zest of 1 large lemon
Cookie Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 eggs, large
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup butter, melted and cooled
- zest of 1 large lemon
- 24 whole almonds (optional)
Decoration Ingredients
- 1 cup milk for dipping
- ½ cup granulated sugar (more if needed)
- red food coloring
- yellow food coloring
- mint leaves
Instructions
Filling Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, sugar, lemon zest and vanilla. Stir until thoroughly mixed.
- Cover and refrigerate.
Cookie Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and place a rack in the center. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large mixing bowl and set aside.
- In another mixing bowl, combine the eggs and sugar, then beat until combined. Add milk, melted butter, and lemon zest, and beat until smooth.
- Add the dry ingredients slowly to the wet mixture until all is added and the batter is combined.
- Add additional flour by the tablespoonful if the batter is too sticky.
- Using your hands, roll the dough into smooth balls about the size of apricots or walnuts. Depending on the size of the balls, you will have about 44 to 48.
- Place the balls an inch apart on the baking sheets.
- Gently press down on the balls to flatten the bottoms, while still leaving a round dome on top.
- Bake one sheet at a time for 15 minutes. Turn the pan around after half the cooking time. The cookie bottoms will be light brown, and the tops will remain pale.
- After removing from the oven, let the cookies cool slightly. Then take a knife and cut a circle in the bottom of the cookies, being careful not to break or cut through them. Take a small spoon and scoop out some of the cookie inside.
- After the cookies have completely cooled, spoon the ricotta mixture into each of them. For half the cookies, place an almond on top of the filling to represent a peach pit. Take two halves, one with almond and one without, and place them together, squeezing some of the filling outside. This will seal the cookies into one. Wipe off any excess filling.
Decorating Instructions
- Split 1 cup of milk into 2 bowls. Add red food coloring to one bowl of milk. Add yellow food coloring to the other bowl. Make sure to add enough food coloring for very vibrant colors. Stir.
- Place the sugar into a bowl.
- Using the yellow food coloring bowl first, dip a cookie, coating half of it.
- Then dip the other half of the cookie into the red food coloring.
- Finally, roll the cookie in the sugar and coat it well. Repeat for all cookies.
- With a toothpick, make a small hole in the cookies and place a mint leaf in it.
- Keep cookies chilled. Set out 15 minutes before serving.