I rejoined Costco lately, once I discovered they actually have quite a few organic and healthful offerings nowadays. Now, I need to get used to shopping there again, ’cause the last time I was associated with a membership was when I lived in a sorority house with 18 other girls and we went through a case of Light ‘n Fit yogurt in 3 days.
Times have changed…and HT is a hungry man, but he is not 18 hungry (possibly hungover) sorority girls. So I may have overbought ricotta cheese. Now, my mission is to use it up mindfully before the clock strikes expiration (I hate wasting food). Here’s the plan, ricotta cheese 3 ways:
1) Ricotta Blueberry Muffins (For breakfast and to freeze, and I just bought a huge ‘ol bag of whole wheat pastry flour at Mrs. Greens.)
2) To-Die-For Cannoli Ice Cream (Only two servings, we can’t be trusted with this stuff.) SORRY, no pictures!
PS- The Duchess of Ridgefield is supervising. Apparently I can’t be trusted in the kitchen.
“Ricottaberry” Muffins
Adapted from The Muffin Myth WW Ricotta Muffins with Cinnamon Roasted Apples
I love muffins, but they’re fattening and carby. So, I look for ways to lighten them up ’cause they really are a great breakfast on the way out the door when you don’t have time to get fancy. Thanks Muffin Myth for the idea, I love that these are whole wheat without being dense, and naturally sweetened with maple syrup. Huge success.
Prep Time: 10 min
Inactive Prep Time: 25 min
Serves: 12 (10 for me, see below)
Ingredients:
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted (I had only salted butter, so note I omitted salt below)
1 cup ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt (I omitted, as I was using salted butter)
1 cup cinnamon roasted apples, or other seasonal fruit (I used frozen organic blueberries)
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 F. Line muffin tin with liners. My trick here is to use two muffin tins and fill only every other well with muffin batter. I like to over fill the wells and make slightly fewer muffins than an original recipe calls for because I like a muffin with a large top and a slightly bigger size (if it alone, will be called “breakfast”).
In a medium bowl, whisk together melted butter, ricotta, eggs, vanilla, and maple syrup. In a separate bowl, combine the flour with baking power, baking soda, and salt. Stir the flour mixture into the wet mix until just barely combined, then carefully fold in the roasted apples (or blueberries or other seasonal fruit). The muffin mix will be quite thick. (It really is!) Don’t worry, it should be.
Spoon equal amounts of the muffin mix into 12 (or 9-10) muffin cups. Slide into the oven, and bake for 20 – 25 minutes, rotating the pan once part way through. Muffins are done when they are puffed and golden, and a toothpick or small knife comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack.
“Hardtack’s Cannoli Ice Cream”
Adapted from Giada Ricotta and Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Hardtack LOVES cannolis, but as he’s become quite the health-conscious guy, he’s not interested in the full-sugar, full fat version anymore. I am hoping this ice cream satisfies the craving without the calorie commitment of the “real thing”.
Prep Time: 10 min
Inactive Prep Time: 30 min
Serves:
12 (or 6 like Hardtack)
Ingredients:
1 (15-ounce) container (organic) whole milk ricotta cheese
1 cup whole milk (I used 1% and a splash of organic half and half)
1 cup simple syrup, recipe follows
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Directions:
In a medium bowl, whisk together ricotta cheese and milk until smooth. Add the simple syrup and vanilla extract. Stir to combine. Pour the ricotta mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions.
As I don’t have an ice cream freezer (boo), here’s where I improvised. I froze the liquid ice cream mixture right in two Magic Bullet blending containers. Then, once fully frozen, I microwaved the containers for about 20 seconds and began to test out blending the mostly-frozen ice cream with a repeated pulsing action on the Magic Bullet. The result was an icy but creamy soft ice cream (eat immediately!) with amazing flavor. Depending how solid your frozen cream has become, you can experiment with adding a tiny bit of skim milk to the frozen mixture instead of microwaving. Also, a regular blender should work too, and a VitaMix, even better.
Note: this refroze pretty well but microwaving for 15 seconds was required again as it refreezes quite solidly. It’s probably best eaten after the first “blending”. Honestly, the flavor is so good I’m not sure how ours lasted past then, anyway.
Simple syrup:
1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar (I subbed 1/2 cup agave here and had total success)
In a saucepan, combine water and sugar (agave) over medium heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sugar (agave) has dissolved. Take the pan off the heat and allow the syrup to cool.
Try these. Enjoy them!
will hike for food 