Whipped ricotta crostini with honey
Crunchy toasts spread with fluffy lemon ricotta and finished with honey and black pepper, sweet, salty and fancy-looking for very little work.
- 30 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 12
- About $0.67 a serving
- 200 calories
- Vegetarian
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 12 servings.
- 1 French bread, baguette
- 15 oz ricotta cheese, whole milk
- 1 lemon, zested
- 3 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme, leaves (optional)
From your pantry
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp salt, divided
- ½ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 200 calories, 8 g protein, 23 g carbs and 9 g fat, and costs about $0.67 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No French bread? Sourdough bread works.
- No ricotta cheese? Cottage cheese works.
- No lemons? Limes work.
- No honey? Maple syrup works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the oven to 400°F and cut the baguette into slices about ½ inch thick, on a slight angle.
Preheat. Preheating means turning the oven on before you start, so it’s fully hot when the food goes in. Food that starts in a cold oven cooks unevenly and doesn’t brown the same.
How you’ll know: The oven beeps or its light clicks off, usually 10 to 15 minutes after you turn it on.
Spread the slices on a , with the oil, and sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon of the salt.
Sheet pan. A sheet pan is a flat metal baking tray with a low rim all the way around. The rim catches juices, and the wide surface lets food spread out and brown.
How you’ll know: Everything fits in one layer with a little space between the pieces.
Drizzle. Drizzling means pouring a thin, slow stream over the top of something. A thin stream spreads a little flavor a long way.
How you’ll know: You see thin lines across the food, not a puddle collecting underneath.
8 to 10 minutes, until and at the edges, and let them cool on the pan.
Bake. Baking means cooking in the oven with dry heat all around the food. It cooks evenly from every side, so you can mostly leave it alone.
How you’ll know: It’s golden on top and passes the recipe’s check, like a clean toothpick or the right temperature.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Timer: 9 min
Dolly’s tip: Cooled toasts keep 2 days in a sealed bag.the ricotta, lemon and the rest of the salt hard for about 1 minute, until fluffy and smooth.
Whisk. Whisking means beating quickly with a whisk or a fork to blend things together. It smooths out lumps and mixes eggs, oil or sauces evenly.
How you’ll know: It all looks one even color and texture, with no streaks or lumps.
Zest. Zest is the thin, colored outer layer of citrus peel, rubbed off on the smallest holes of a grater. It holds the fruit’s fragrant oils, so it adds bright flavor without the sourness of juice.
How you’ll know: You see bright flecks and smell citrus right away; stop when you reach the white layer, which is bitter.
Timer: 1 min
Dolly’s tip: Whisking air in turns grainy ricotta into something like whipped cream. It keeps a day, covered, in the fridge.Spread a spoonful of ricotta on each toast, with the honey and finish with the black pepper and thyme leaves.
Heaping. Heaping means a rounded mound piled above the rim of the spoon or cup, not leveled off. It’s a little more than the measure, on purpose.
How you’ll know: The pile sits above the edge of the spoon, and you leave it there instead of scraping it flat.
Drizzle. Drizzling means pouring a thin, slow stream over the top of something. A thin stream spreads a little flavor a long way.
How you’ll know: You see thin lines across the food, not a puddle collecting underneath.
Dolly’s tip: Top them just before serving so the toasts stay crisp. They can sit out up to 2 hours.Food safety: Food with mayonnaise, dairy, eggs, cooked meat or cream, like dips, salads and cream desserts, can sit out for 2 hours at most, or 1 hour above 90°F. Keep cold food in the fridge or on ice until serving, and hot food at 140°F or hotter.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
When you host a dinner, Dollop builds the menu around your guests’ allergies, works out a cooking timeline back from when everyone sits down, and puts it all on one grocery list.
