Cassateddi di Ricotta my mom used to make and I found the recipe!

Cassateddi di Ricotta

Posted on March 12, 2011 by Tony

http://www.foodbuzz.com/recipes/4773492-sicilian-casatelle-or-cassateddi-

The cassateddi is a Sicilian dessert that is usually made for Christmas and Easter. It is made of sweet dough filled with a mixture of ricotta cheese and other sweet ingredients. They are usually shaped as a half moon. The dough is filled, closed, ends pressed down with fingers or a fork and then either baked or deep fried.
There are many variations of this recipe in Sicily. In some areas the cassateddi are filled with vanilla or chocolate custard or with preserved fruits.
This recipe is from my mom’s side of the family where my grandparents came from Palermo.
Ingredients

For the Dough:

3 1/4 cups all purpose flour

¼ cup sugar

5 Tbls un-salted butter

2 eggs

¾ cup water

pinch of salt

For the Filling:

1 lb fresh ricotta cheese, drained (the dryer ricotta found in Sicily is hard to find in the US but not impossible)

1 cup sugar

grated zest of 1 lemon

2 ½ ounces chocolate chips

pinch of cinnamon

Procedure
1. Combine the dough ingredients and work into a dough that is rather hard.
2. Let the dough rest for an hour and then spread out with a rolling pin to a thickness of 1/8”.
3. Preheat oven to 350 F.
4. Cut out 4” circles from the dough.
5. Mix the ingredients for the filling.
6. Put 1 -2 tablespoons of the mixture in the middle of the cut dough circles.
7. Moisten the edges with a little water and fold the dough over pressing the edges firmly with your fingers to seal, or a fork if you want to be fancier.
8. Place them in the oven and bake until slightly golden.
9. They should be served at room temperature.
Yield: about 3 dozen.