Italian Ricotta Cocoa Crostata
Classic Italian dessert, perfect for adults and kids. The cocoa dough and the ricotta chocolate chips filling make this dessert so delicious.
Servings: 8 people
Calories: 766kcal
Equipment
- Rolling Pin
- Medium Bowl
- Spoon
- Stand Mixer
- Tart tin L36xW13xH3 cm / 14x5 inc
- Fork
Ingredients
Cocoa dough
- 470 gr plain flour previously stiffed
- 30 gr cocoa powder
- 200 gr Icing sugar
- 300 gr cold unsalted butter cut it into small chunks
- 4 medium yolks cold from the fridge
- 1 vanilla pod seeds
- 2 gr salt
- 1 grated peel of unwaxed lemon
- 1 teaspoon butter to coat the tart tin
Ricotta filling
- 300 gr ricotta reviously drained from his water
- 27 gr caster sugar
- 20 ml sweet liqueur as Meletti amaro anise
- 70 gr dark chocolate chips
Instructions
Cocoa dough
- Place the flour, the cocoa, the sugar, and the butter in a food mixer until you will get a sandy texture. If you are doing the dough by hand, work the ingredients with your fingertips, crumbling the butter with the other dry ingredients (we need to work quickly because we don’t want to warm the butter), until you will have a sandy texture. This method is called sandblasting.
- At this point we must proceed by hand. Add the yolks, the flavour, and the salt, to the mixture. Work very quickly until you have created a ball.
- Press gently the dough with a rolling pin all over it and wrap it with a baking paper.
- Leave to rest in the fridge for 1 hour and 30 minutes or if you are in a rush place it in the freezer for 10 minutes. The rest phase is essential for achieve a good sweet shortcrust pastry.
Ricotta filling
- Turn the fan oven to conventional 160°c /180°c static, Gas mark 4, Fahrenheit 350°F.
- Add the ricotta, the sugar, the flavor, the chocolate, and the liquor in a medium bowl and whisk until is all combined Set aside until needed it.
Assembling
- After the resting time, on a lightly floured work surface, place more than half of the pastry and lightly flour the top. Roll the pastry with a rolling pin until you will have 5mm of thickness and quite large and long enough to cover the tart tin, with the rest of the pastry obtain two strips of 4 cm large with a 5mm thickness. (If you want more a classic look of your crostata, as a grid, you will need to cut more strips of 1.50 cm wide to cover the crostata)
- Spread some butter inside our tart tin, this will help to cook the crostata more evenly. Roll the pastry around the rolling pin and gently place it on the tart tin and press gently to the bottom and the side and trim off the excess of the pastry.
- Pour the filling in the base of the pastry and place the two strips in the top, leaving a space in the middle. With a fork seal the edge of the pastry. Place it in the fridge for 10 minutes, so the butter will be solid and will help to give a better crust.
- Cook for 40 minutes, allow to cool down before serving.
Notes
All recipes are developed and tested in Metric grams. I strongly recommend using digital scales for a more accurate result.
How to store?
It will be last up to 4 days in the fridge. The leftover from the sweet shortcrust pastry can be stored in the freezer for up to 2 months, when you will need to use it take out few minutes before using it.
Italian Ricotta Cocoa Crostata Recipe
