Baked Ricotta Cheese

Foodie Lit

Baked Farmer's Cheese

Serves 4

2 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

15 ounces ricotta cheese, 1 container

1 cup golden raisins

1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped or broken

Preheat oven to 325F.
Beat eggs with mixer or by hand until light. Mix eggs with sugar, cinnamon, salt, vanilla and lemon juice.
By hand, add in Ricotta Cheese. Fold in raisins and walnuts.
Line a loaf pan with parchment paper that hangs over the sides. Pour mixture into loaf pan.
Bake uncovered at 325 F for 50-60 minutes or until firm. Cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until firm. Lift out of pan and put on plate. Slice or scoop onto crfackers. Serve with extra cinnamon and sugar, if desired.

Expandthetable suggestions

Lower the sugar: Use a sugar substitute in place of sugar, following the measurement conversions on the package. I use Stevia.

Other cheeses: Use farmer’s or cottage cheese. If using cottage cheese, drain first.

Reading Boychik by Laurie Boris took me back to the tastes and smells of my Dad’s deli—the sour pickles, the pastrami sandwiches, the lox and the deli salads. Set for much of the novel is set in Brooklyn in Brooklyn Heights and Williamsburg, both neighborhoods with which I am very familiar.

Like main characters, cousins Eli and Artie Abramowitz, my dad was born in Williamsburg and was only 2 years younger than Eli. His dream was to own a deli, which he did many years later.

In Brooklyn Heights, a wealthy neighborhood then and now, another main character grows up, Evelyn Rosenstein, daughter of Murder Incorporated mobster. What happens when these characters meet is an absorbing story, filled with romance, crime, and dreams, where Hollywood and life intertwine.

Review & Recipe

A friend of mind called to ask how to make Baked Farmer’s Cheese. He told me how he loved the sweet taste, the raisins and the walnuts. I didn’t know a recipe, in fact, I had never even tasted it! So I did some research, starting at my kitchen table with my mom, who remembered how she loved Baked Farmer’s Cheese from her childhood. I couldn’t find farmer’s cheese and substituted Ricotta and ran out of walnuts and used pecans. As my Nana used to say, “Anyone can be a good cook when you have all the ingredients. If you can make it without all the ingredients….” And this Baked Ricotta Cheese was delish!