Double Crusted Ricotta Pie Recipes

RICOTTA PIE (OLD ITALIAN RECIPE)

Steps:

• Beat the 12 eggs, 2 cups sugar and vanilla extract together in a large bowl. Stir in the ricotta cheese and the chocolate chips, if using (see Cook's Note). Set aside.
• Combine the flour, baking powder, and 1 cup sugar together. Cut in 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Mix in 4 beaten eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Divide dough into 4 balls, wrap in plastic, and chill for at least 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease two deep-dish pie plates.
• Roll out 2 of the balls to fit into the pie pans. Do not make the crust too thick, as it will expand during cooking. Do not flute the edges of the dough. Roll out the other 2 balls of dough and cut each into 8 narrow strips for the top of the crust. (Alternately, you can use cookie cutters and place the cutouts on the top of the pies.)
• Pour the ricotta filling evenly into the pie crusts. Top each pie with 8 narrow strips of dough or cookie cut-outs. Brush top of pie with milk for shine, if desired. Place foil on the edge of crust.
• Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes; remove foil. Rotate pies on the rack so they will bake evenly. Continue to bake until a knife inserted in the center of each pie comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes more. Cool completely on wire racks. Refrigerate until serving.

DOUBLE-CRUSTED RICOTTA PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat an 8-inch springform pan with cooking spray. Line bottom with parchment; spray parchment. Mix together ricotta, confectioners' sugar, yolks, salt, zest, cherries, and anise in a bowl.
• Let dough sit at room temperature 15 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll out smaller disk of dough 1/8 inch thick; using pan as guide, cut out an 8-inch round. Chill until firm. Meanwhile, roll out larger disk to an 11-inch round, about 1/4 inch thick; fit into bottom and up sides of pan, pressing and patching dough as needed.
• Spread filling over dough. Fold sides of dough over filling. Brush beaten egg over folded sides. Top with 8-inch disk; brush with beaten egg and sprinkle evenly with pistachios and granulated sugar. Chill 30 minutes. Bake on a baking sheet until golden, about 1 hour (tent with foil if browning too quickly). Let cool completely on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cut into wedges; serve with sauce.

RICOTTA PIE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375ºF
• Add the flour, powdered sugar, baking powder, lemon zest and salt to the bowl of a food processor, and pulse until well combined.
• Add in the butter and pulse 5-7 times, or until the butter is broken down into tiny pebbles.
• With the motor running, add in the eggs and let the dough process until it forms together into a cohesive ball around the blade, about 1 minute.
• Transfer the dough to a work surface dusted with flour. Divide the dough in half.
• Roll out half of the dough to a rough 11″ circle and place inside of a 9″ deep-dish pie plate, tucking the ends of the pastry underneath themselves to form an edge. Pierce the bottom of the pastry multiple times with a fork to allow the steam to escape when baking. Place the pastry in the freezer to chill while the oven preheats, or at least 10 minutes.
• Roll out the other half of the dough to a rough 10-inch circle. Place the pie dough on a flat surface (such as a sheet pan) that can fit in your refrigerator. Cover, and transfer to the refrigerator to chill.
• Remove the bottom crust from the freezer and line the pastry with a round piece of parchment paper and then add pie weights to fill (or dry rice or beans or lentils), making sure to push pie weights up against the edges. Bake for 20 minutes on the lower rack, then remove from the oven and remove the parchment and pie weights. Return to the oven and bake for an additional 5 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and let cool for about 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, make the filling: Add the (strained) ricotta to a large bowl. Whip it with a whisk for 30 seconds until lightened. Add the sugar, eggs, lemon juice, lemon zest, and almond extract and whisk together until well combined.
• Transfer the filling to the slightly cooled pie shell.
• Whisk together an egg with a bit of water to make an egg wash.
• Remove the rolled-out top crust from the refrigerator. Score the top crust with the fork in a lattice pattern by evenly pressing and dragging the fork on the pastry. You want to get a good score on it, but make sure not to cut through the pastry.
• Brush the egg wash on the top crust as well as on the edges of the baked bottom pie crust (this will help the top crust seal to the edges). Transfer the top crust pastry on top of the ricotta filling. Seal the top crust into the edges, and cut off any excess dough.
• Bake the pie on a rimmed baking sheet in the middle part of the oven for 40-50 minutes, or until the top is golden and shiny and the filling has just nearly puffed up throughout, leaving just a small portion in the middle that has not risen.
• Let cool for at last 2 hours. Serve at room temperature or cold.

QUICK & EASY RICOTTA PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). On a lightly floured surface, roll out one crust, and place in a 9 inch pie plate. Roll out top crust, and cut into lattice strips; set aside.
• In a large bowl, blend ricotta, eggs, sugar, and whiskey. Pour into pie crust. Top with lattice strips in a woven pattern. Seal and crimp edge.
• Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, or until crust is golden brown and filling is set.

TORTA DI RICOTTA

Steps:

• Toast 5 tablespoons of pine nuts in a saute pan just until they start to get color, moving them around constantly so they do not burn. Once they are toasted remove from the pan to cool
• In a small pan add the sugar and water, heat over high neat until mixture begins to boil and all the sugar is dissolved
• Add the pine nuts to the sugar syrup and continue to swirl the pan until the mixture turns amber.
• Place the finished mixture onto an oiled cookie sheet to cool and harden.
• Mix the raisins and rum together and allow them to sit until most of the rum has been absorbed
• In the bowl of a food processor- add the flour, brown sugar, gound almonds, and baking powder, pulse 2 or 3 times
• Add the butter pieces and pulse 4 or 5 times until mixture looks like coarse meal
• Mix the egg and vanilla together and pour the mixture into the food processor while it is running (mix just enough to blend)
• If mixture looks too dry add a little ice water
• The dough will look a little loose, that's ok
• Place the dough onto a work table and form it into 2 balls. Use one-third of the dough to make one dough ball and the remainder of the dough for the second. Do not work the dough, even if it does not come completely together, just do your best to form the balls. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least one hour.
• Mix the ricotta, orange rind, vanilla, sea salt, sugar, raisins and pine nut brittle together until well blended
• Add the chocolate chips.
• Break the pine nut brittle into small pieces and add to the ricotta mixture.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees (180 C)
• Using a 10 inch springform pan, line the inside with aluminum foil, overlapping slightly on the outside. Use two criss crossing pieces, and make sure foil is tight to the sides of the pan.
• Roll the larger of the two dough balls out between two sheets of parchment paper. Making a large circle.
• Carefully place the rolled-out dough into the springform pan. The dough should go half way up the inside of the pan.
• Spoon the ricotta mixture into the prepared pan
• In between two pieces of parchment paper, roll out the remaining dough ball, just a little bit larger than your springform pan.
• Place this dough onto of the ricotta mixture, and carefully pinch the dough into dough on the sides of the pan.*Don't worry if it cracks slightly, just try not to leave any holes in the dough.
• Place on the center rack of a 350 degree preheated oven and bake for 50-55 minutes, or until the top is a nice golden brown.
• Allow cheesecake to cool on a wire rack for about 20 minutes, then remove the outer pan and very gently peel back the foil and allow it to continue to cool for an additional 30 minutes.
• Refrigerate the cheesecake for at least 4 hours before serving to allow it to set up. *There are no eggs in this cake to help bind it, and if you cut it too soon it will run.
• After the cheesecake has set up, remove the bottom of the springform pan and place on serving platter, allow cheesecake to come back to room temperature before serving.

RICOTTA QUICHE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°F. Shape 2/3 of the pastry into large ball; shape remaining pastry into small ball, pinching off small piece to use for decorating. Place larger ball on floured surface; roll out to 5-inch circle. Place on bottom of 9-inch springform pan; press pastry firmly onto bottom of pan to completely cover bottom of pan and about 1 inch up side of pan. Set aside.
• Separate 1 of the eggs; set egg white aside. Place egg yolk, remaining 3 whole eggs, the ricotta cheese, spinach, Parmesan cheese, mustard, onion and pepper in large bowl. Beat with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Stir in ham; spoon into crust.
• Place small ball of pastry on floured surface; roll into 9-inch circle. Place over filling; press lightly into top edge of pastry around side of pan to seal. Roll out remaining piece of dough; cut out leaf shapes from pastry with sharp knife. Arrange on top of pastry. Cut several slits in top of pie to allow steam to escape. Beat reserved egg white until foamy; brush over pastry.
• Bake 1 hour or until golden brown. Serve warm. Store leftover pie in refrigerator.

PASTRY FOR DOUBLE PIE-CRUST

Steps:

• In a bowl, combine flour and salt; cut in shortening until crumbly. Gradually add water, tossing with a fork until dough forms a ball. Divide dough in half so one ball is slightly larger than the other., Roll out the larger ball to fit a 9-in. or 10-in. pie plate. Transfer pastry to pie plate. Trim pastry with even with edge of plate. Pour desired filling into crust. , Roll out second ball; cut slits in pastry. Position over filling. Trim pastry to 1 in. beyond edge of pie plate. Fold top crust over bottom crust. Flute edges. Bake according to recipe directions.

PINK RICOTTA SKILLET PIE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350.
• In a large cast iron skillet on medium heat, cook the onions, garlic and salt until they begin to caramelize. Meanwhile, mix the mozzarella, half the Parmesan, the ricotta and the eggs in a mixing bowl.
• To the skillet, add the spinach, sun dried tomatoes, the tomato paste and the spices. Cook until the liquid from the spinach is dried out.
• Add the spinach mixture to the cheese mixture and combine well. Put it back into the skillet, smooth the top and top with the remaining Parmesan.
• Bake for around 40 minutes. The top should be crispy and golden brown.
• Allow 10 minutes rest before cutting and serving.