Giada Just Put a Fall Twist on Her Famous Lemon Ricotta Cookies That Fans Say Are "Easy, Elegant and Delicious"

Is there anything more versatile than ricotta cheese? We swirl it into our overnight oats, slather it on morning toast, layer it into our favorite lasagnas and even bake with it, because this creamy Italian cheese adds a healthy richness to just about any dish. So it should come as no surprise that one of our favorite sources for tasty Italian recipes, Giada De Laurentiis, has a delicious way to use up the rest of your tub of ricotta—and knock out the last of a can of pumpkin at the same time.

In an autumnal twist on her famous Lemon Ricotta Cookies with Lemon Glaze, De Laurentiis just posted a new recipe for Pumpkin Ricotta Cookies on her blog, Giadzy. The new recipe takes even less time than the original, so you can have warm, cakey cookies for everyone in just an hour—not bad for a fall baking project.

To start your cookies, gather up your ingredients: all-purpose flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ground ginger, salt, unsalted butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, whole-milk ricotta cheese and pumpkin purée (which is, in fact, pure pumpkin). De Laurentiis begins by combining the first five ingredients in a large mixing bowl, then she beats together the butter and sugars in a medium bowl until light and fluffy. She then beats in the eggs until fully incorporated before finally adding the ricotta and pumpkin. The final touch is stirring in the dry ingredients, taking care not to over mix.

When the dough is ready and the oven is preheated to 375°F, portion out the dough on two parchment-lined baking sheets—each cookie should take about two tablespoons of dough (to make things easy, use OXO's medium cookie scoop. Buy it: $16, OXO). The cookies should bake for 13–15 minutes and cool for another 20 minutes once they're out of the oven. As the cookies cool, combine powdered sugar, water, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt for a simple spiced glaze. (Here's a quick tip from the Giadzy test kitchen: if you plan to stack up the cookies for storage, wait two hours for the glaze on the cookies to harden.)

Fans who love Giada's original lemon cookies have plenty of tips on how to get the absolute best result from the recipe—one reviewer (who "makes these [cookies] all the time") suggests refrigerating the dough overnight for a tasty treat. Another said they love to make the lemon recipe but use tangerines rather than lemons for a different seasonal take.

We have quite a few different pumpkin cookie recipes if you're looking for healthy, more traditional take on a simple fall treat. These Pumpkin Sugar Cookies, Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies and Pumpkin Spice Latte Cookies are deliciously seasonal desserts that would be right at home in a Friendsgiving or Thanksgiving dessert spread. And if you love a little kick of chocolate, these Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Cookies will definitely do the trick.