Eggless Ricotta Tart Recipe is an Italian recipe by the name Crostata Ricotta. This tart has a buttery crust with orange flavoured ricotta filling baked to perfection.
I took nearly three days to make this tart. First day, I made the cheese and the pastry dough. Next day baked the tart. And on third day, sliced it and set the pieces to hubby’s office. If you are baking for an event, you can plan accordingly. No need to do everything on a single day.
Making the pastry dough/ Pasta Frolla
You need to understand the technique behind the dough, so that you can make it easily. When mixing ingredients, it is better to have them cold. If you live in a hot place, make sure to refrigerate even the dry mix before adding ice cold butter. Chill the orange juice as well.
Your hand has heat, so when mixing up butter, use the fingertips to gently mash the cubes into the flour. Do not knead the dough. We don’t want to activate gluten. We need crispy crumbly pastry that melts in the mouth. Not the chewy one. When adding orange juice, add one tbs at a time. The dough comes together really fast. Just clump it with your finger. The dough will look rough and crumbly. The overnight rest will make it pliable the next day.
I have the recipe for homemade ricotta cheese in my blog. If you are unable to source ricotta in stores, use this recipe. It is quite easy and turns out very creamy and delicious. It has never failed me till now. Click on the image below to read the recipe.
Filling for Eggless Ricotta Tart Recipe
Making the ricotta filling is very easy. You just add all ingredients except the raisins, grind them until smooth. Finally add raisins, give a mix and your filling is ready. Adding orange zest gives it an amazing flavour. So don’t skip it out. You can even add lemon zest and juice in the filling.
Eggless Ricotta Tart Assembling
Lining the tart tin becomes easier fi you can maintain a cold dough. If possible work in AC room. But if you are like me with no AC room for working, you need to refrigerate the dough at intervals to maintain the chillness of the dough. If the butter in the dough starts melting, the dough becomes tough to handle.
Roll the pastry dough between two sheets of cling film. Refrigerate for a while until it becomes a bit firm and yet still pliable. Remove the top layer cling film, invert the rolled out pastry on the buttered tin. With the help of your fingers, slide the dough inside and let it fill the sides too. If again it becomes too soft, return it back to fridge for sometime and then work on it.
Remove the excess dough from the top using the blunt side of a knife or a spatula.
The quantity for filling is perfect for an 8″ tart tin. So depending on the size of the tin, you could just scale the recipe.
Making the strips is the same like how we made the base. Keep the dough chilled at all time. It will be easier to pick the stripes. Otherwise they will break, Arrange them as you like on the filling. I even made a rope to finish the edges. And made some impressions with fork to flatten it. Bake it until golden.
When hot out of oven, the crust would be really delicate. Allow it to cool completely. I just left it overnight inside the oven, Once the dough settles well, it will come out of the tin easily.
Use a large sharp knife to cut it into wedges. Enjoy!
Eggless Ricotta Tart Recipe
Ingredients
For the Pasta Frolla
- 250 g All Purpose Flour/ Maida
- 50 g Sugar powdered
- 150 g Ice Cold Butter
- 4-5 tbs Orange Juice
- 1 tsp Orange Zest
- ¼ tsp Salt
For the Filling
- 250 g Ricotta Cheese
- 75 g Sugar
- 1 tsp Orange Zest
- 50 ml Milk
- 1 tsp All Purpose Flour/ Maida
- 2 tbs Raisins
Instructions
Pastry Dough:
- In a bowl, mix together flour, powdered sugar, salt and orange zest.
- Cut butter into small cubes and add it to flour.
- Using your fingertips, crush the butter into the flour mix.
- The flour should resemble bread crumbs once you have incorporated the butter.
- Add orange juice little by little and bring together the dough.
- Do not knead. Just press them together to form crumbly dough.
- Divide the mix into two portions, one slightly larger than the other.
- Wrap in cling film and refrigerate overnight.
Ricotta Mixture
- In a mixer jar, take ricotta cheese, orange zest, milk, sugar and flour.
- Grind until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
- Transfer to a bowl, add raisins and mix well.
Arranging the Tart
- Butter an 8” tart pan and set aside.
- Take the larger portion of the dough and allow it to sit at room temperature for a while. It should be make an impression of your finger if poked.
- Roll it between two cling films to form a thin round.
- Refrigerate until slightly firm but still pliable.
- Remove the top cling film layer and place it upside down on the buttered tart pan.
- Press the edges so that the dough sits inside the wedges of the tin.
- If too soft to handle, refrigerate it for a while and continue.
- Take a blunt knife and trim the excess of the dough from the tart pan.
- Add the filling and spread it evenly.
- Roll out the second potion and cut into thin strips.
- It might get softer fast. If that happens, return it to fridge and let it firm up before handling.
- Arrange the strips on top of the filling. Remove excess at the sides.
- Refrigerate the assembled tart for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 175C.
- Bake the tart straight out of fridge in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until the top is golden.
- Remove from oven and let it cool completely on a wire rack.
- Remove the tart from the tin and base plate.
- Cut into 8 equal wedges using a sharp knife and serve.
