Tnt... Ricotta Pie

[middie]

This is something one of my co-workers took to work and oh man it is so good !!!

3 cups a.p flour
1 cup shortening
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

3 pounds ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt (she said it can be omitted)
10 eggs, beaten
1 chocolate candy bar, grated

Preheat oven to 325.

For the crust: Put flour in large bowl and cut the shortening in until it resembles course meal. Mix in the 2 beaten eggs, milk, and the vanilla stirring until combined and mixture forms a ball. Divide the dough into 3 equal parts.

Roll out 3 pieces of dough to form 2 12 inch circles and fit it into 2 9 inch pie pans. Roll the remaining dough into a 10 inch wide rectangle cutting it into 12 strips reserving for the tops of the pies.

For the filling: Mix together the ricotta, sugar, salt, the 10 beaten eggs, and the grated chocolate until thoroughly combined. Put 1/2 the mixture into each pie pan. Use the dough strips to form lattice tops on each pie.

Bake about 90 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the filling comes out clean. Cool before serving. Must keep this refridgerated !!

Enjoy. I sure did.

[marmalady]

I love ricotta pie! Try adding some orange zest at the last minute along with the shaved chocolate!

[middie]

OOOh Marm LOVE that idea !!!! I'll have to tell her about that too. About how much would you say ?

[marmalady]

I'd use at least the zest of 1 orange for this size pie - maybe even more; have to do the taste test! I found oranges this winter that really didn't have much 'zing' in the zest at all.

[SNPiccolo5]

I love baking with ricotta cheese. I once, in search of a puffy, cakey chocolate chip cookie, added 1/2 cup ricotta to a recipe, and it worked really well. I also make a muffin with it, lemon-amaretto being a good flavor for it, coffee chocolate chip or just plain chocolate works well, too. This sounds really good, though. Maybe with some fresh macerated berries on top?

-Tim