The Best Lemon Easter Pie
Layers of flaky phyllo dough wrapped around a bright, lemon infused, creamy cheesecake - this ricotta based cheesecake is not only a culinary delight to the taste buds but is a beautiful presentation that all your guests will swoon over.
Ingredients
- 1 Large Pasture Raised Duck Eggs
- 15 oz Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese, room temperature
- 1/2 tbs Vanilla Extract
- 1/4 tsp Almond Extract
- 2 tbsp Lemon Zest
- 1/2 cup Short Grained Rice, cooked
- 1/3 cup Toasted Slivered Almonds
- 10 sheets Phyllo Sheets, fresh or thawed frozen
- 6 tbsp Unsalted Butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Butter a 9 inch pie plate. Set aside.
- Place duck egg, ricotta, vanilla extract, almond extract, lemon zest, rice and almonds into food processor. Process until combined, about ten, 2-second pulses. Rice and almonds will still be visible and have texture.
- Lay 1 phyllo square over the bottomand up the sides of the pie plate, the corners of the phyllo squares will hangover the sides.
- Brush with melted butter.
- Top with the second sheet of phyllo dough, it should be laid in theopposite direction as the first phyllo sheet so you have over hang on the opposite sides of the pie plate.
- Brush with melted butter.
- Continue with four more squares of phyllo dough. Remember to alternate each square and butter each layer.
- Pour ricotta mixture into phyllo crust and spread evenly.
- With remaining four phyllo dough squares, lay them over the top of the pie filling, alternating as you did previously and buttering each layer as you go.
- Take the overhanging phyllo dough and flip it over on top of the pie. It will not reach all the way across but this is ok. Butter the edges.
- Bake 35 minutes. Pie should be set in the center and the crust should be a beautiful golden brown.
- Let cool.
- Dust with powdered sugar.
NOTES:
Our phyllo dough came in squares which required us to put a few sheets across the top to cover the pie filling. However there are phyllo dough sheets that come in larger rectangles. If you have the rectangular sheets, you can lay all the phyllo sheets across the bottom of the pie plate as the hanging sides will cover the entire top of the pie once folded over the top.
Buttering the layers of phyllo is a very important step, it will keep the layers from sticking together while baking. It will prevent burning of the phyllo while baking. It lends to the creation of the beautiful golden brown color.