Up Next...Lemon Ricotta Tart

As we all know, Christmas is less than 2 weeks away. I decided that since we have a lack of Christmas parties to go to this year, that this weekend I was going to test out some dessert recipes for Christmas dinner, since I've been given that assignment. It takes some time and effort but it's totally worth it to give a new recipe a dry run before you serve it to guests. You see...a funny thing happened over Thanksgiving. We were traveling to the Husband's parents' house up in PA. I was bringing a dessert. I decided to give a new recipe a try....Ina Garten's Pumpkin Marscapone Cheese Roll. It looked so easy to make...I watched Ina do it and she had no trouble.

Let's just say that after a long day in Juvenile Court, I came home the Wednesday before Thanksgiving (we were making the trek to PA on thursday morning). I fed the cats, did some laundry and launched into baking mode. I was so tired and my pumpkin roll didn't roll like Ina's. I got so frustrated and angry, I smashed my pumpkin roll. I had a bewildered husband, a smashed dessert, and 3 cats dining on a marscapone and crystalized ginger filling on my floor. I got in the car, drove to a local restaurant known for its desserts. They literally had 2 cheesecakes left, grabbed one and called it a night.

Moral of my Pumpkin Roll Gate as we call it...test your recipes...you never know what might go wrong!

So, here's a test run of  Martha Stewart's Everyday Food Magazine's Lemon Ricotta Tart (recipe to follow)

There's really no dessert I don't really like that has fresh lemon in it...I love the smell of the ktichen after I zest some lemon!

I liked making this tart 1) because I got a tart pan with removable bottom at my bridal shower 2) I got to use my Kitchen Aid food processor...I feel like he feels neglected sometimes. Here's the filling of ricotta cheese, fresh lemon zest and juice and cream cheese and eggs

This tart and I almost got in a fight. I mixed the filling, put it in the baked crust and then saw the package of cream cheese sitting there. I had to scoop out the filling, put it back in the food processor and pulse in the cream cheese...I was cursing at Martha because I knew something was missing after tasting the filling and a couple of her recipes haven't been up to snuff that I've tried lately...sorry Martha..this was my fault.

The finished product cooling....

The first slice....

A close up to see the ricotta-ness

Lemon Ricotta Tart (courtesy of EveryDay Food Magazine)

6 dozen vanilla wafers

6 Tbsp unsalted butter melted

2 cups whole milk ricotta

2 eggs

1/3 cup sugar

2 Tbsp fresh lemon zest

3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 375. In a food processor, pulse vanilla wafers. The 6 dozen should yield 2 cups of crumbs. Mix processed wafers with melted butter. Press into the bottom of a tart pan with a removable bottom. Place tart pan on a baking sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and cool.

In a food processor, blend ricotta, cream cheese (don't forget this!) eggs, sugar, lemon zest and juice together until smooth. Pour into tart pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until some brown spots appear on the top of the tart. Cool completely. Best served on the day its made.

Verdict.....

This was a pretty easy recipe. I didn't like the taste of the filling. I zested 1 1/2 lemons and juiced 1 lemon...this was  a little more than Martha's recipe called for, but the filling was rather bland....not lemon zesty spectacular that I was expecting. I added more sugar but I think this tart fell a little flat. I was trying to be a good little Italian girl and make this for Christmas, as i remember Ricotta pie and cake growing up. But, while it was good, there was just nothing show stopping about it. The lemon tast wasn't super strong, but neither was the cheese taste. I would possibly make it again, but use even more sugar than the extra that I did add. Also, the tart baked for an additional 10 minutes tacked on Martha's rec of 30-35. The top cracked a tiny bit, but I was anxiously awaiting the creme brulee looking brown spots that never appeared and called it a day after 10 extra minutes!