Recipe: Pumpkin Ricotta Pudding

Pumpkin Ricotta Pudding

This is called a budino in Italian. It is a firm pudding, halfway between a cake and a pudding. A crust forms as the budino cooks, but there's no pie dough here. Like most puddings it will sink a little as it sits.

4 eggs
1/2 pound canned pumpkin
1/2 pound ricotta cheese
grated rind of one orange
1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/3 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Separate egg whites from yolks and set both aside.

Mix together pumpkin and ricotta. Beat in egg yolks and grated orange. When blended, add sugar, flour, spices and pecans, and mix well.

Beat egg whites until stiff. Fold into ricotta mixture.

Pour into a buttered and floured 10 inch pie pan or cake pan. Decorate top with unchopped pieces of pecan.

Bake for about 40 - 45 minutes, or until firm to the touch in preheated 350 F oven.

Serves 6 - 8.
adapted from a recipe by Marisa Viola