Throughout my entire life, I've always eaten ricotta pie for Easter breakfast. If you haven't had it, it's an Italian cheesecake made with ricotta cheese and flavored with citrus rind and cinnamon. It's deliciously simple and there's nothing like it for breakfast. (Though honestly I like it so much that I'll eat it whenever.) My mom sent me the recipe that she got from her mom years ago, and I am amazed at how much is open to interpretation. I can only imagine that this recipe is something that the women in my family were just supposed to know how to make—I mean how much rind? How much cinnamon? I remember helping to grate the rind when I was a kid and I think it was one of each per pie but I need to call my mom and get more details.

I'm planning to bake two pies Thursday night so I'll report back with the specifics on Friday morning. I strongly suggest making this over the weekend if you have to go to a brunch. It's springy and brightly flavored, yet creamy and comforting at the same time...which I realize I might be saying simply because I've been looking forward to eating it every year for 29 years. This is exactly the recipe that my mom sent me, though most years we skip the crust on top all together:

Preheat oven to 375

Mix together:

1 1/2 lbs. ricotta
4 eggs
3/4 cups sugar (1 1/2 cups if you double everything else for 2 pies)
Grated lemon rind Grated orange rind
Cinnamon to taste

Pour into favorite crust . May top with criss-cross pie crust top. Beat egg yolk and spread on top of crust strips. This will make it brown.

Bake 375 for 1 hour.

Apologies for my slightly blurry picture from last year!

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