Ricotta-Berry Muffins

Another muffin's recipe idea. This time using ricotta cheese. Lemon zest is added for some zing along with a blueberries.

As we are all know ricotta is low in fat and amazingly versatile.

Ricotta is a fresh unripened Italian cheese made from whey (the watery residue left over from making other cheeses, such as mozzarella).

The name ricotta is derived from the Italian word recocta, which means "recooked". This refers to the second stage of making ricotta, where the leftover whey is cooked again to make the final product.

Ricotta is a smooth cheese with a creamy mild taste and a thick texture. Its light flavour and low salt content make it perfect for using in sweet or savoury dishes. It can also be air-cured or dried in the oven to make it into a harder, sharp-tasting cheese that can be grated. From Australian Good Taste - June 2006

The dough was quite thick, I looked for another liquid ingredient in the recipe, there's none. I kept going and the muffins turned ok. They are soft and moist even after the next day, the sugar is just right for me. You can play along with the ingredients though, swap the ricotta with buttermilk, yogurt or milk. Use any kind of berries unless strawberry, it's too watery, that's what Dorie said ^_^. Play along friends...

Ricotta-Berry Muffins

- makes 12 muffins -

by: Dorie Greenspan

Ingredients:

3/4 cup ricotta, preferably at room temperature ---> it's about 200 gr
2 large eggs, preferably at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 stick (4 ounces) 115 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2/3 cup sugar
Finely grated zest of 1 lime
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/3 cups blueberries

Procedure

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin tin, or fit the molds with paper muffin cups.

Whisk the ricotta, eggs and vanilla together, then stir in the melted butter.

Working in a large bowl and using your fingertips, rub the sugar and lime zest together until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Switch to a whisk and stir in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Put the ricotta mixture on top of the dry ingredients and, using a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend—don’t worry about being thorough. The batter will be thick and heavy and that’s fine. Stir in the blueberries.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin molds, slide the pan into the oven and bake 20 to 25 minutes. When fully baked, the tops of the muffins will be golden, springy to the touch and a knife inserted into the center of the muffins will come out clean. Pull the pan from the oven and carefully lift each muffin out of its mold and onto a rack to cool.

Storing: These are best eaten the day they are made, but you can wrap them airtight and pop them into the freezer, where they’ll keep for about two months; re-warm in a 300°F oven or split them and toast.