Lemon Ricotta Pie w/ Pine Nuts (South Beach Recipe)

Okay. I am not a big fan of the South Beach Diet, Atkins Diet, Cookie Diet, or the starve-yourself diet whatsoever but when the boss told me to make this cake, I politely obeyed and performed my job. Personally, this pie was not my favorite and I would have preferred using real sugar. I feel like raw or brown sugar would have worked here. In any case, I support family and their decisions.

The recipe calls for 32 ounces of part-skim ricotta cheese, 6 eggs separated, 1 lemon (for 2 Ts juice and 1 T zest), 1/3 cup of sugar substitute + 1 T, 3 Ts of pine nuts, 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar, and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract. The 1 T of sugar sub + 2 Ts of lemon juice is used to make the glaze. Prepare this cake at least 6-7 hours ahead of serving time or better yet, the night before you're planning to serve it.


These are some of the ingredients that you will need. And yes, that is the South Biet Diet Recipe Book. Disregard the imitation lemon juice - I used fresh lemon juice.



Turn your oven to 275 degrees.

Separate the eggs. Beat the whites on high speed for 1 minute then add the cream of tartar and continue beating them until the egg whites form a soft peak. I opted to beat the egg whites by hand (like I usually do) but with the presence of fancy technology, I took advantage of the opportunity to play with new toys.



Honestly, I could have done this faster than the mixer. But... I did save my arms from a workout.



When your oven is ready. Toast your pine nuts in a greased pan for about 10 minutes or until well roasted then turn oven up to 375 degrees.



After 10 minutes. Set it aside.



Zest a lemon. I needed two lemons just to get 1 T of lemon zest. Obviously, I wasn't doing something right plus I was really careful about not getting any of the white parts, which is really bitter.



In another mixing bowl, combine well the egg yolks, sugar, 2 Ts of vanilla extract. Then add ricotta cheese and lemon zest. Combine until smooth. The recipe says that you should use a mixer but I just beat it by hand.

Yes, that is cottage cheese. Someone took out a few scoops from the ricotta cheese container so we problem solved. ;)



Fold in about 1/3 of the egg whites into the mix. Fold well. Then slowly fold in the rest.



I used a 9" spring form pan (because I don't own one and had no idea what it was until today). Grease it well! I sprayed it with Pam Baking Spray <-- more things I don't own and buy.



Then bake for one hour and ten minutes. However, I learned that it's better to under-time when you bake delicate goods like this. So it is probably better off that you set your timer at 50-55 minutes to check on its progress then decide whether to take it out or bake for longer.



With that said, I must have slightly burned mine. :(

When the cake is completely cool, make the glaze. In a small saucepan, add the sugar and lemon juice. Turn off the heat after it starts to simmer then brush it on the cake.

Fancy cutting boards <-- more stuff I don't own but would like to buy.



The finished product topped with blackberries <-- to take your attention away from that other weird darker color on the side of the pie that my camera picked up.