Ricotta Pie

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! I had a great weekend with both sides of my family. My hubby and I hosted Easter dinner, and it was delicious (we had a lot of amazing help)! One of the pies that I decided to make this year was Italian Ricotta Pie. The recipe that I used was based off of my husband’s Nana’s recipe. Nana’s recipe is awesome and the pie came out delicious. I tweaked the original recipe because it was initially for 2 pies instead of 1, and I also added some chocolate chips as well. This pie was beautiful and definitely perfect to share with family. Even though this pie is generally only made at Easter, I might break the rules and make this beauty again soon – it’s that good!!!

Crust (Pasta Frolla) Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 stick of unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, combine the flour and salt and set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until combined. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
3. Add the flour mix and combine until a dough forms.
4. Form the dough into a ball and place in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Ricotta Filling Ingredients:

• 2 lbs (32 oz.) ricotta
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs separated
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• zest of 1 lemon
• zest of 1 orange
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the ricotta, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla. Add the zests and cinnamon and mix to combine.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg whites until fluffy.
4. Fold the egg whites into the ricotta mix. Fold in the chocolate chips.
5. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and cut in half. On a floured work surface, roll out each ball of dough into about a 11″ round. Carefully place dough round into the bottom of a 10″ pie pan. Press the dough into the bottom and around the sides.
6. Pour the filling into the pie.
7. Take the other dough round and roll out. With small cookie cutters, cut shapes into the dough and place shapes on top of the filling. Instead of shapes, you could also roll the dough into 1″ strips and place on top in a criss-cross, basket weave pattern.
8. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until filling is set.

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