Momma's Italian Pastierra Or Holiday Pie

Total Time: 2 hrs Preparation Time: 45 mins Cook Time: 1 hr 15 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 24
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 lb unsalted butter (softened)
• 2 cups flour
• 2 egg yolks (lightly beaten)
• 4 tablespoons orange juice or 4 tablespoons water (liquor may be substituted)
• 1 (3 lb) container whole milk ricotta cheese
• 2 cups sugar
• 12 eggs (beaten)
• 1 teaspoon orange juice or 1 teaspoon lemon juice or 1 teaspoon anise extract (liquor can be substituted)
• x orange, zest of
• x lemon, zest of
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 bottle maraschino cherry (chopped)
• 2 tablespoons candied citron peel (finely chopped & optional)
• sponge cake
• confectioners' sugar (for dusting)

Recipe

• 1 in a large bowl, cream together sugar and softened butter.
• 2 to this, add egg yolks one at a time alternating between flour also added a bit at a time.
• 3 add 1 tbsp.
• 4 water at a time, until all is incorporated and dough is smooth.
• 5 set aside; and keep in a cool place to rest until ready to roll out while you prepare the filling.
• 6 filling: i do all this is a food processor but it can be done with an electric mixer easily.
• 7 add the cheese, eggs, sugar,*orange water, zest of lemon, zest of orange and mix well until smooth.
• 8 set aside.
• 9 mix in cherries and citron by hand.
• 10 on a lightly floured surface, roll out dough 1/4-inch thick and fit into the bottom and up the sides of a 15" round, 4" high cake pan.
• 11 this dough is very forgiving and can be manipulated easily to fit the pan and to patch torn areas.
• 12 if you have extra dough, roll and cutout thin strips to place on top of filling in a lattice pattern.
• 13 on top of dough, cut and place 1/2-inch slices of sponge cake to fit around the bottom of the pan.
• 14 sprinkle the chocolate chips on top of sponge cake.
• 15 pour batter into pan.
• 16 top with lattice strips.
• 17 preheat oven temperature to 375 degrees.
• 18 bake for 1-1/4 hours.
• 19 turn off oven and leave the pie in the oven with door open to cool slowly.
• 20 after completely cooled, dust the top of the pie with confectionery sugar.