Sicilian Easter Pie Recipe

With apologies to all the Peeps and jelly beans and chocolates and Sweet Tarts and — well, you get the picture — with apologies to all those classic Easter candies, you have just found what is surely going to be the new favorite Easter treat for you and everyone in your family. This Sicilian Easter pie, baked up and written down for us by chef and recipe developer Jessica Morone of Jess Loves Baking, is sweet yet simple, rich in flavor yet doesn't overwhelm the palate. In other words, you'll want seconds.

Of the pie itself, Morone says: "One of my grandmothers is from Sicily, and growing up she would make Easter pies for us. There's really two options with these pies, one is a savory version with meat and the other is the sweeter version that is ricotta based. I chose to make a sweet Sicilian Easter pie for this recipe." We'll go with the sweet, too.

And while preparing a Sicilian Easter pie does take a fair amount of time, most of that time is hands-off as you chill the dough, let the pie bake, and let it rest after the cooking. Hands-on, this pie only takes about 20 minutes of active work. Now let's get to work and bake a pie!

The secret to this pie's great taste is a blend of spice and sweet flavoring. And butter. All told, you'll need all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, unsalted butter (cold!), eggs, whole milk ricotta cheese, lemon zest, cinnamon, mini chocolate chips, and some powdered sugar for dusting the finished pie.

To start, put the flour, ½ cup sugar, the baking powder, salt, and butter into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the mixture becomes coarse. Next, lightly beat two of the eggs, then add them to the bowl of the food processor. Pulse until the eggs are incorporated and the mixture comes together as a dough. 

"If the dough is too dry, add a teaspoon of cold water to it," Morone says, adding: "I think the trickiest part is making sure the pie dough isn't too sticky or too dry. If the dough is crumbly or cracks when you are rolling it out, then it probably needs a little water added to it, and if its so sticky that it sticks to everything, you should add a little flour to it."

Now, assuming it feels just right, remove the dough from the food processor and wrap it in plastic wrap. Then, refrigerate the dough for at least an hour.

Once the dough has cooled for long enough, preheat the oven to 350 F, then lightly grease a 9-inch pie pan.

Take ⅔ of the dough and roll it out onto a lightly floured surface, working it out until it's ¼-inch thick. Transfer the flattened dough to the pie pan, pressing it into the bottom and sides of the pan before trimming away the excess.

Then, in a large bowl, add the remaining 4 eggs, ricotta cheese, the last ½ cup sugar, the lemon zest, and cinnamon, and mix until they're well-combined. Mix in the chocolate chips, and finally pour the ricotta mixture into the pie crust.

Now, roll out the remaining ⅓ of dough onto a lightly floured surface — you can add the pieces you trimmed from the bottom here. Then, place this layer on top of the filling and pie crust and use your fingers or a fork to crimp the edges of the dough together.

Bake the pie in the preheated oven for 45-50 minutes, until the top of the pie is golden. Then, get the pie out of the oven and let it cool completely ("or even refrigerate it," Morone says). Once it's cooled, lightly dust the top with powdered sugar, if desired, and serve it up.

As for serving, Morone says: "This is usually served at Easter, but can really be made and served anytime. I think it would be great with some fruit on the side or with some coffee."