Homemade Ricotta Cheese & Apricot and Ricotta 'Crostini'

There are some foods in life that are just better homemade - pie crust, your trustee chocolate chip cookies and ricotta cheese.  When I first conjured up the idea to make my own, I was initially a little unsure that I (someone with zero Italian in me) could make the silky and creamy cheese that the family-owned Italian specialty store around the corner churns out each day.  But I am dubbing ricotta cheese as the lazy man's recipe - it only uses three ingredients - milk, cream and lemon juice and the majority of its 'cooking' time is letting it drain in a cool place for up to two hours.  Once all of the draining was complete, I was left with the same quality of cheese that Italian grandmothers have been making for years - it was light and silky perfect for layering slathering on a piece of crusty bread or on apricots like I did here. Continue for more...

*All photographs by Alison