Fiadone-Italian Ricotta Pie

This was the first picture I ever posted on my blog. Let me say, I am not Italian, just by marriage. This is a very traditional Italian dessert that my husband requested me to make for him very early in our relationship. I love to bake; in fact, am not very humble about the fact that I consider myself an excellent baker. But, I was quite intimidated about making this dessert for him, because it had so many memories attached to it for him.

So, the first time I made it, I probably didn't do as well as this time. I was thinking it had a pie crust, when it is really more like a cookie crust. So this time, I was smarter, and rolled the crust out only once, on plastic wrap and flipped it into the pie pan, and it was beautiful, tender and delicious. The recipe also calls for a lattice top, but I decided to cut out some festive Christmas trees for the top.

Fiadone

Preheat oven to 350.
Grease 10 inch deep dish pie pan.

For the crust:
1 1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon anise seed
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and anise seed. Lightly beat the eggs, and add them to the flour mixture. Then add the butter, and mix to form a soft dough. Place on floured plastic wrap, and roll to 1/4 inch thickness. Gently place in pie pan, and trim edges. Flute edges, and chill remaining dough while you make the filling.

For filling:
2 pounds whole milk ricotta
4 ounces chopped candied citron
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs, lightly beaten

Mix together filling ingredients in the order given. Put filling in the prepared crust. Roll out the remaining crust, and cut into decorative shapes, or make a lattice top. Make a glaze out of one egg yolk and a tablespoon of water, and lightly brush over the entire top of the pie. Bake for one hour until the filling is completely set. Chill completely before serving.