Easter Ricotta Pie
Ricotta Pie is a traditional Italian dessert made especially for our Easter holiday. It just wouldn’t be Easter without Italian ricotta pie. I think we in love the ritual of making these pies together as much as we love serving them to our family and friends. It’s fun to see our daughters and granddaughters enjoy this time in the kitchen together, creating sister and cousin memories while keeping this tradition alive for generations to come…
Here is my sister, Fran, her granddaughter, Brianna and my daughter Nancy.. Three generations of 3 Italian Sisters making Easter pies together….Mom would be very proud…love love…
The ricotta pie is our mother’s original recipe.. It is made with the whole milk or part skim ricotta cheese with the addition of wheat grain (grano) or white rice. Our mother always used a fluffy long grain white rice (like carolina brand)…It is cooked ahead and cooled before adding to the ricotta., The ricotta and cooked rice is mixed with eggs and egg whites and sweetened with sugar….then flavored with cinnamon and orange or lemon zest. The ingredients are easy to put together… and as you can see,…the ricotta filling is hard to resist tasting.. …. It’s so yummy…right girls?
The dough recipe is enough for one pie and a lattice top. After the pies cool, we sprinkle them with candy sprinkles right before serving…..They look so colorful..like an easter basket… .. and the filling is so creamy and delicious… goes really well with a cup of espresso or cappuccino.
I made mine this year in a fluted tart pan this year….gave the crust had a really pretty edge …
Buona Pasqua a tutti…enjoy your Easter with family and friend…
Kathleen Barbato….3 Italian Sisters
- PIE FILLING
- 32 oz Ricotta cheese (whole milk or part skim)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 whole eggs
- 2 egg whites (reserve yolks for brushing crust)
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- zest from one lemon or one orange
- 1/4 cup cooked white rice ( we use carolina or arborio)
- nonpareils candy sprinkles
- PIE DOUGH RECIPE (enough for 1 pie and lattice top)
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 large eggs
- 4 oz melted butter
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- In a large mixing bowl, mix ricotta, sugar egg, cinnamon and rice by hand.
- Combine ingredients until blended and creamy. Set aside to make dough
- TO MAKE DOUGH:
- Combine flour and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Make a well in center of flour.
- Add eggs to well and scrambled until combined… incorporate flour into eggs and then add melted butter.
- dough will be a little moist but not sticky.
- form dough into a disk and cut into half
- press 1/2 of the dough into 9″ pie pan.
- use other half of dough to roll out and make strips for lattice
- Add ricotta filling to prepared pie pan. Top pie with lattice strips..making a basket design. Brush lattice with reserved egg yolks.
- Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for approx 50 minutes or until top is puffy and a little jiggly. but set.
- Let pie cool completely and can be placed in refrigerator if you like it cool.
- Sprinkle pie with candy sprinkles before serving.
- Kathleen Barbato….3 Italian Sisters
