After showing you how easy it is to make “ricotta” at home, I thought I would also show you an additional way to cook with it. I love ricotta, both in sweet and savoury dishes. Sicilians are famous for their ricotta desserts and I must admit I love sweet ricotta. It is lighter (also in calories) than many other fillings, yet so flavoursome. It is creamy and bold and when it is paired with dark chocolate, it becomes irresistible. Today I am going to share with you another one of my family recipes. It is a cake I have always liked so much that I would ask my mum to make it for my birthday! Always. It is a very simple cake: a crostata filled with sweet ricotta, chocolate and raisins. That’s it. It comes together pretty quickly and it is quite forgiving. There is no icing or complicated decoration, yet it looks good and, above all, it is hearty and satisfying for your palate and tummy. It is the perfect treat for tea time! Buon appetito!
Ricotta Crostata
Not available An easy recipe for a delicious Italian cake: Ricotta Crostata.
Ingredients
Crostata Dough
- 250 gms – 8.8 oz. flour
- 125 gms – 4.4 oz. sugar
- 125 gms – 4.4 oz. softened unsalted butter
- 1 egg
- 1 pinch of salt
Filling
- 500 gms – 1.1 lbs. ricotta
- 250 gms – 8.8 oz. caster sugar
- 50 gms – 1.75 oz. dark chocolate chips
- 2 or 3 tbsp raisins
- 1 tbsp candied orange zests chopped (optional)
- 1 tbsp Rum
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 1 egg optional
- Icing sugar
Instructions
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Knead the flour together with the sugar, butter, egg and salt until obtaining a smooth dough.
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Put the raisins in a bowl with the Rum to infuse for 10 minutes.
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Put the ricotta, sugar and vanilla essence in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk until smooth.
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Take the dough out of the fridge, place it on a sheet of baking paper and roll it into a 1.5 cm – 0.6 inch thick sheet.
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Put the dough into a greased spring-form pan (I line mine with baking paper) and press it down. Make sure to leave at least 3 cm – 1.2 inches of extra dough on the sides. Keep the trimmings aside to use as decoration.
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Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180°C – 355°F for 40 minutes or until golden brown.
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Let it cool down completely and sprinkle with icing sugar before serving it.
Recipe Notes
If you want a thicker filling, add an egg to it. I usually don't, as I like my filling to be creamier.
What size plan please. I have a 26 inch tart tin. Is this dough enough for it?
Hi Caterina. Do you mean 26 cm? I use either a 23 or 25 cm tin for this recipe. Hope it helps. 🙂
Praticamente facilissima e semplicemente buonissima!
Grazie per questa ricetta stupenda!
I would also like to add, I love your website and all your delicious recipes. Thank you! Xxx
This looks delicious! My Nonna use dot make something similar when I was a child. It brings back so many fond memories.
Simple yet delicious and so pretty. A great dessert for guests.
Ricotta is so Italian, and this recipe looks wonderful Manu.
i’ve never made a crostata with ricotta before. it has a nice ring to it. 😉 it looks delicious, too!
What a lovely dessert. Love the idea of dark chocolate and a touch of rum 🙂 for the dough, do you use regular white flour? Thanks for such a delightful recipe.
Hi Cheryl! Thank you very much! 🙂
You can use either Italian 00 or All purpose flour for the dough! 🙂
I’m not Sicilian, but I should have been! Sweet or savory, Ricotta just makes me happy! And this is going to be a must-try this weekend!
Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipe, and I hope you will consider linking up with me for my Foodie Friday Blog Hop on A Room for Two with a View. Feel free to share as many recipes as you’d like. I know my readers would love it!
Have a fantastic Foodie Friday and a wonderful weekend!
Melissa