My love of cheese is well-documented to those who know me in real life. Give me a glass of wine, a plate of cheese and you will have my gratitude for life.
I particularly love strong cheeses like ripe bries and bitey cheddars but just recently I have a newfound respect for ricotta. This versatile soft cheese can be used for sweet and savoury dishes. It lends itself to being baked in a cake, oven-baked as a savoury side dish, added to frittatas, stirred through pastas…
Because ricotta is so mild it is a perfect foil for dark chocolate, like in these chocolate ricotta tarts. I made these tarts in small heart shaped tins because they look so pretty.
This simple recipe uses shop-bought puff pastry for the base and a quicker-than-lightening few steps to turn basic items into a dessert fit for a dinner party.
Make sure you use tart tins with a removable base for ease. Please use an all butter puff pastry, you will taste the difference.
GATHER:
1 1/2 cups fresh ricotta cheese, from the deli
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 lightly beaten egg
90g finely chopped dark chocolate
Finely grated zest from one large orage
3 sheets butter puff pastry
LET’S GET TO IT:
Preheat oven to 180C and place small non-stick tins with removable bases on a baking tray.
In a large bowl stir the ricotta, sugar, zest, egg and chocolate together until combined.
Using the tin as a guide cut the pastry to fit in the tin, gently pushing down
Place on trays then divide ricotta mix between pastry.
Cook for around 20 minutes – depending on the size of your tin you may need to adjust this up or down.
the hungry mum 
Ricotta and chocolate? Yeeeep! I like it!
Yes ma’am, it is an unexpected but totes yum combo 😉
Nice combo Mrs H.
Cheers Lisa 🙂
What an interesting combo! I don’t think I’ve ever really had ricotta and chocolate together before!
It really works! I think the dark chocolate is needed here to make up for the ricotta’s ‘quieter’ taste.
Yum I really love this recipe – haven’t tried the combination ricotta and dark choc but can imagine it’s delicious. You should check out my post for making your own ricotta – it’s super easy with milk and a few basic tools 😊
Thanks Laura 🙂 I have always wanted to make cheese but fear that is like giving the keys to the asylum to the crazy person… my cheese addiction is somewhat out of control without knowing how to make the stuff 😉
Ha ha – it’s a big task to make more than a small batch and a good cost saving too 😊
Ricotta is just divine. You’re right it is so versatile, sweet or savoury. I’d love to dive into these!
Hey, thanks Jem! I bought some more ricotta the other day and am now looking for more desserts I can make x