ITALIAN CHEESE CAKE RECIPES

Steps:

• Position a rack in the center of the oven
• Preheat to 400ºF
• Butter a 9-inch spring form pan and place on a baking sheet
• In a strand mixer fit with the paddle, beat the cheese, sugar, egg yolks, lemon zest, vanilla and liqueur on medium until very smooth, about 4 minutes
• Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl and wipe out the mixer bowl
• Put the egg whites in the mixer bowl and whip until soft peaks form
• Fold the whites by thirds into the cheese mixture
• Pour mixture into the prepared baking pan and level it
• Put the cake in the oven and immediately lower the heat to 350ºF
• Bake until the cake has risen higher on the sides than in the middle and is set but jiggling in the center, 1 hour, 10 minutes
• Turn off the oven and prop the door open; a wine cork is a good tool for propping the door open just enough
• (Be careful not to let if fall into the oven
• ) Let the cake cool completely in the oven for 1 hour, then cover the cake with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 3 hours or overnight before removing the springform sides
• Slice and serve

Steps:

• To prepare the Ricotta Cheese Crostata tart, start with the ricotta pie and leave it to drain in a strainer for a couple of hours 1 depending on how rich it is in whey. Then proceed with the shortcrust pastry: put the flour into a mixer together with the cold butter cut into small pieces 2 and beat on low for a few moments. Pour the grainy mixture onto the worktop and add the powdered sugar 3 ,
• in the middle make a crater with your hands and pour the egg yolks into it 4 . Grate the lemon peel 5 and knead until obtaining a smooth and homogeneous dough 6 .
• which you can wrap and allow to rest in the refrigerator for at least half an hour 7 . Meanwhile, make the cream. In a mixer pour the egg yolks together with the sugar and grate the orange peel 8 , then add the cinnamon powder 9 .
• Lastly, add the ricotta 10 and blend until smooth 11 ; set aside. Take the shortcrust dough and remove the wrap, beat it with a rolling pin to soften it a little bit, then divide it into two parts, one double the size of the other, and start rolling the larger one between two sheets of baking paper 12 .
• You will obtain a disc of about 1/16" (3-4 mm) 13 and place it in a 9" (23 cm) pie pan already buttered and floured 14 . Use your fingers to carefully arrange it so that the dough fits the baking pan. If it breaks in some places, don't worry, just patch them with pieces of the dough. Level the edges on the top with the rolling pin 15 .
• and then pierce the bottom with a fork 16 . In the middle pour the ricotta cream 17 and carefully level it with a spatula 18 .
• Then sprinkle the surface with chocolate chips 19 and finally roll out the second layer of shortcrust pastry 20 to obtain a disc which you will put on top 20 . Level the tart by rolling with the rolling pin so as to eliminate the excess shortbread (which you can freeze and then use on another occasion perhaps to make biscotti!) and let the air escape 21 .
• To finish, pierce the surface with a knife blade 22 , more useful than the fork in this case, and bake 23 in a preheated oven, in static mode at 340° F (175° C) for 70 minutes: make sure to put the pan onto a drip pan and cook it on the lower rack. Halfway through the cooking process, re-pierce the holes you created on the top with a knife and then continue cooking. Once baked, take out the ricotta cheese crostata tart and let it cool completely before enjoying it 24 !