My favorite desserts, apart the czech ones, come from sunny and dulce Italia. I could not have this blog without at least one proper italian dessert. Ricotta tarts are a staple at bakeries throughout Italy. They vary from region to region, usually they are dense but smooth and creamy. The recipe I show you here is one of the best of all dessert recipes I have. I love the mixture of flavors of honey, port wine, vanilla and lemon. Hope you enjoy it too!
sweet pastry:
225 g butter
150 g icing sugar
2 eggs
450 g flour
ricotta filling:
350 g fresh ricotta cheese
2 whole eggs + 2 egg yolks
60 g honey
3 g cinnamon
20 g Marsala (I use 0,5 dl port wine)
35 g vanilla sugar
250 g lemon confits
meringue from: 2 egg whites + 35 g caster sugar
To make the pastry, mix the butter and sugar with electric beaters until you get a nice cream. Add the eggs and continue mixing until incorporated. Add the flour and beat just until combined. The dough should be sticky. Form a ball, cover it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile you can prepare the filling by simply mixing ricotta with eggs, honey, sugar, cinnamon, sweet wine and lemon confits in a large bowl. Stir everything as smooth as possible. Make sure that the sugar and honey get well dissolved, then slowly little by little add meringue that you can prepare the the mixer.
Preheat the oven to 170°C. Butter a 26 cm springform cake tin. Briefly knead the chilled dough to soften it and with your fingers push the pastry into the base and on the sides of the tin. Cover the surface of the pastry with baking paper and with dried peas that will avoid that the dough will grown in height during baking. Bake the pastry for approximately 7 minutes, then remove peas and baking paper and fill the tart with ricotta cream. Return to oven and continue baking 15-20 minutes more, until golden. Allow the pastry to cool before serving.
verosweetlife 