Cherries With Chocolate In Ricotta Recipes

CHERRY RICOTTA CHEESECAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Coat a 9-inch spring form pan with cooking spray. Place ricotta in a food processor and process until smooth and creamy. Add sour cream, cream cheese, eggs, sugar, flour, vanilla, lemon zest and salt. Process until well blended. Pour into the prepared pan and bake until the center is just set, 50 to 55 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool, then cover and chill in the refrigerator for 3 hours.
• Put the cherries, honey and lemon juice in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat. In a small bowl stir the gelatin in the warm water until dissolved then stir the dissolved gelatin into the cherry mixture. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 3 hours, stirring once or twice, until the mixture is thickened but not yet formed to the pan.
• After the 3 hours chilling, top the cheesecake with the cherry mixture and then serve, or keep in the refrigerator, covered, for up to three days.
• Excellent source of: Calcium, Protein, Selenium
• Good source of: Phosphorus, Riboflavin, Vitamin A

RICOTTA CHEESECAKE WITH WARMED CHERRIES

Steps:

• Cheesecake: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly butter or oil a 4-cup glass loaf pan. Line the bottom and ends of the pan with a long piece of parchment paper.
• Blend the ricotta, milk, sour cream, eggs, yolks, sugar, flour, salt and lemon zest in the blender or food processor, until smooth, about 1 minute. Pour into the prepared loaf pan. Bake until just set and barely golden, about 40 minutes. Turn the oven off and let cool in the oven for 10 minutes, then cool completely on a wire rack. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
• Cherries: Toss the cherries, sugar and salt in a bowl and set aside for 30 minutes. Cook cherry mixture over medium-high heat until they soften and the juice gets syrupy, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the rum and lemon juice.
• Lift cheesecake out of the pan by the paper and transfer to a cutting board. Slice into serving pieces and place on a platter. Spoon the warm or room temperature cherries on top. Serve.
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CHOCOLATE-RICOTTA PIE

Steps:

• Blend the flour, cornmeal, 3/4 cup pine nuts, 1/4 cup sugar, and salt in a food processor until finely ground. Add the butter and pulse, just until the dough forms. Press the dough over the bottom and about 2 inches up the sides of an 11-inch-diameter tart pan with a removable bottom. Refrigerate until the dough is firm, about 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Line the tart dough with aluminum foil and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake the tart shell in the lower third of the oven until just set, about 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and pie weights. Bake the shell until golden, about 10 minutes longer. Cool completely.
• Combine the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar with 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Cool the sugar syrup slightly.
• In a double boiler, melt the chocolate over very softly simmering water.
• Pulse the ricotta cheese and cream cheese in a food processor until smooth. Add the egg and egg yolks, 1 at a time, and process until smooth. Add the melted chocolate and process until combined. With the machine running, add the sugar syrup in a thin steady stream and process until smooth.
• Pour the custard into the tart shell and bake until the filling is almost set, about 30 minutes or until the custard has set. Scatter the remaining 3/4 cup toasted pine nuts on top of the filling. Let the tart cool completely before serving.
• The tart can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for up to 3 days. Return the tart to room temperature before serving.