This post is brought you by my lovely friend Ali. When Ali isn’t working, she’s probably baking cookies or pies and she’d rather go against tradition, stay away from the classics, and bake unexpectedly. Her treats are delicious and I love her different baking point of view. I really hope you enjoy her delicious Bourbon Trefoil Torta di Rosi.
When given my mission, drunken girl scout desserts, I delighted at the opportunity to cook with the trefoil. It’s a basic shortbread cookie that can be used in a number of ways. Instantly, I knew I wanted to make a cookie crust for a pie.
Torta di Rosi is a classic italian pie made with arborio rice and ricotta, often served for Easter. Though I can say I hadn’t had this pie (or celebrated Easter) prior to this bake, I think it’s the perfect way to marry three of my favorite things: shortbread, rice pudding, and bourbon. Nothing says celebration quite like that. I looked up various recipes for inspiration, and took to She Loves Biscotti for some inspiration. In my version, I’ve skipped the zest and gone for a more spices. Plus, the trefoil cookie crust.
Trefoils have a very basic flavor, so the bourbon and cinnamon really impart some dimension.
The rice absorbs a lot of flavor to help add some dimension to the pie, the real meat of the matter is in the custard.
I live in a two-person household and there’s only so much pie we can eat in one sitting (ok, who are we kidding, we would gladly eat it all). What’s great about this pie is that the slices wrap up beautifully, and can be frozen for eating at a later time. Just let the slices sit out to defrost before serving again, cold.
Or you could share the pie with people, if you’re nice.
Ingredients
- Sauce Pan (1 - 4 qt)
- 9.5 or 10 inch pie dish
- hand mixer or stand mixer with whisk attachment
- spatula
- Food Processor (optional)
- 1 cup arborio rice
- 2 cups whole milk
- ½ cup heavy cream (can substitute with whole milk)
- 1 tbsp + 1 tsp bourbon
- 1 vanilla bean
- 1.5 sleeves of trefoils (2 cups crushed)
- ? cup butter, melted
- 4 large or extra-large eggs, room temperature
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 container of whole milk ricotta (450grams)
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- 1 ¼ tsp bourbon
- confectioners sugar (optional)
Instructions
- Turn on the oven to 350*F.
- Put the arborio rice and milk in a sauce pan over medium heat.
- Score your vanilla bean so the seeds are easily visible.
- Add the vanilla bean and bourbon. Stir until combined
- When the rice mixture begins to simmer, turn the heat down to low.
- Stir occasionally until the liquid is absorbed (about 10-15 minutes).
- Remove the vanilla bean and add the heavy cream.
- Stir continuously until the liquid is absorbed.
- Take the rice off the heat to cool to begin crust prep
- Take the 1 and a half sleeves of trefoils and crush.
- I used a cuisinart to make this easy, but you could put them in a plastic ziplock and crush with a rolling pin.
- Melt ? cup butter (I use the microwave for 1 minute on power level 7)
- Add the crushed cookies to your pie dish and combine with ? cup of melted butter
- Press the crust into your pie dish, until mostly covered. (Mine made it up the dish about half way).
- Put the crust in the preheated oven to set for 5 minutes
- Remove crust from oven to sit for 5-10 minutes, while preparing the custard
- Add eggs to mixing bowl and whisk on low until combined, about 1 minute.
- Add sugar to eggs, whisk on low until frothy, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add ricotta, cinnamon, nutmeg, and bourbon. Whisk until fully incorporated, about 1-2 minutes
- Add rice to egg mixture and gently stir to combine.
- Pour custard mixture into the pie dish.
- Bake pie for one hour and fifteen minutes, until golden brown and bouncy to the touch. Be sure to check your pie at the one hour mark, and again ten minutes later to make sure not to over cook.
- Remove from oven to set for another 10-20 minutes.
- Serve warm or cold with a dusting of confectioners sugar or a dollop of whipped cream.