Sicilian sweet ricotta cream made with sheep ricotta, for filling cannoli, cassatas, cassatelle, tiramisù and spoon desserts of all kinds. This indulgent no-bake cream is a must of typical Sicilian pastry. It is made with sheep ricotta that is well drained and dry, and from this you can prepare a thousand delicious recipes, from the Torta Fedora to whatever your imagination suggests. To this delicate and delicious cream, in addition to the basic ingredients of sugar and vanilla, you can also add cinnamon, orange zest, lemon zest, candied peel and even chocolate chips. Let’s go to the kitchen and you’ll see how good, easy and indulgent the Sicilian sweet ricotta cream is to make.

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Difficulty: Very easy
Cost: Very inexpensive
Rest time: 12 Hours
Preparation time: 15 Minutes
Cooking methods: No-cook
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All seasons

Ingredients to make Sicilian sweet ricotta cream

4 cups sheep ricotta (dry and well drained (about 1 kg / 2.2 lb))
1/2 cup granulated sugar (about 100 g)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
to taste ground cinnamon
to taste orange zest
to taste candied orange peel (chopped or blended)
to taste lemon zest
to taste dark chocolate (in chips and finely chopped flakes with a knife)

Tools

Sieve
Cotton cloth
Bowls
Refrigerator

Steps to make the cream

To prepare this cream you will need a dry, well-drained ricotta. Start from at least 1.6 kg (about 6 1/3 cups) of fresh ricotta: collect it in a cotton cloth, make a bundle and place it on a colander set over a bowl. The drier the ricotta, the better the result, so put it in the refrigerator and let it drain for at least 12 hours, changing the cloth if it becomes too wet or placing it on top of another cloth.
When the ricotta is well drained, add the sugar, cinnamon, vanilla extract and finely grated orange zest, and blend. Pass the ricotta through a sieve two or three times; the orange zests will remain trapped in the sieve’s mesh but will have already released their essential oils, so don’t worry about them.
The ricotta cream is ready; just use it as you prefer. It keeps in the refrigerator, well sealed in an airtight container, for a maximum of 2 days.
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