Honey and cheese is almost all you need for a delicious Melopita — Greek Honey Pie.
Melopita is a traditional honey pie/cake from the island of Sifnos in the Southern Aegean. The base of it is fresh anthotyro cheese (you can use ricotta) which you mix up with aromatic honey and eggs. Once you pull it out of the oven you can spread more honey on top and dust it with cinnamon. I was going to make an apple compote to go with it, but the pie is already sweet enough and does need much to accompany it. Additionally, you can also garnish it with tangy pomegranate seeds like the photo, or even some fresh berries. I’ve been baking this recipe a lot lately with delicious results. One of my Los Angeles personal chef clients requested it for their Rosh Hashanah dinner, which made a lovely addition to the menu.
Melopita recipe origins
The first time I made Melopita was on Narlis Farm in Sifnos this summer. For that recipe, George the ower of the farm, who taught the class made this fresh cheese from goats’ milk. We even got to meet the goats that day. My recipe is based on what we made. It’s just too bad I don’t have fresh goat’s milk on hand to make my own cheese!
Quality of cheese makes a difference
Since fresh anthotyro or mizithra cheese is not (to my knowledge) widely available outside of Greece, the type/quality of the cheese you use in the recipe will make a difference. These cheeses (for the purpose of this recipe) are pretty much the Greek equivalent of ricotta. But, I’ve tested this recipe extensively with whole milk ricotta from Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, and it works as outlined here.
However, don’t use part skim ricotta as its gritty and doesn’t hold well. If you want to get a little more spendy, try a higher end basket ricotta. You should be able to find that at an Italian market. I’ve seen them at Eataly. The most widely available (at least in California) would be Bellwether Farms Whole Milk Basket Ricotta, which I absolutely love. I have not tested that with this recipe, however. You could also try a farmers cheese. But I haven’t tested this recipe with that; if you do, let me know.
Indicators that the Melopita is done
As you embark on making the Melopita, you’ll find it’s a super easy recipe to make. Basically, mix everything together, turn it out into the baking pan, and bake. Just make sure that the pie gets brown all over and is set in the middle. Keep in mind, everyone’s oven is different so it’s hard to estimate exact times. As a result, this is definitely a time to use your senses. You will smell it and notice the color.
Happy Baking!
Ingredients
For the pie:
- 2 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- Pomegranate seeds (optional)
To prepare the pan:
- 8-inch round pan
- Butter
- 1 teaspoon corn starch
Instructions
- Whisk or use a hand mixer to combine all the pie ingredients.
- Grease an 8-inch cake pan with butter and dust with corn starch.
- Pour pie mixture in and bake at 375° for about an hour until it is brown on top and set in the center.
- Let cool and then flip out and flip back over onto a serving plate. You can use a springform pan if you don’t feel comfortable flipping.
- Garnish with more honey and a dusting of cinnamon, and pomegranate seeds (optional).
Notes
Let the pie cool before you turn it out of the cake pan.
Nutrition Facts
Melopita (Greek Honey Pie with Ricotta Cheese)
Serves: 8 pieces
|
Amount Per Serving: 1 piece
|
||
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 264.45 kcal | |
| % Daily Value* | ||
| Total Fat 12.95 g | 18.5% | |
| Saturated Fat 7.79 g | 35% | |
| Trans Fat 0.06 g | ||
| Cholesterol 103.11 mg | 34.3% | |
| Sodium 89.27 mg | 3.7% | |
| Total Carbohydrate 26.69 g | 8.7% | |
| Dietary Fiber 0.05 g | 0% | |
| Sugars 24.11 g | ||
| Protein 10.83 g | ||
| Vitamin A 14.47 % | Vitamin C 0.12 % | |
| Calcium 17.14 % | Iron 3.74 % | |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Sweet Greek Personal Chef and Culinary Services Los Angeles, CA
Are you looking for more sweet Greek treats? Check out my recipes for Koulourakia, Kourabiedes, and Melomakarona!
A question. Could one cut back on the honey and/or sugar for a less sweet Melopita? Or did you not find it particularly sweet?
Hi Linda, To make it less sweet, you could omit drizzling honey over the top. Otherwise, I didn’t find the pie itself to be overly sweet.
Hi there!
I was thinking it would be nice with a small dusting of cornmeal on the bottom, or am I way off? I have one in my oven right now (sans cornmeal) and am super excited!
Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Jennifer,
I think that’s such a great idea. There are variations that also used broken up biscuits/cookies in the bottom too. I hope you like the recipe. It’s one of my favorite from my visit to Sifnos.
It turned out beautifully! This will be a staple dessert here now! Thanks again!
So happy to hear it!
Can this be made in advance?
Hi Amy,
Yes! You can definitely make this in advance. Just store it in the refrigerator, and garnish it right before you’re ready to serve.
Personally I recommend replacing some of the ricotta with cream cheese to get something closer to the difficult to find and traditional mithizra cheese.
I’m glad you brought this up, because I think in a longer version of this blog post I mentioned that the quality of the ricotta cheese that you use really makes a difference in this recipe. I added that back in with some examples. That said, have you tested this with cream cheese? I’m not sure that would do the trick and might make it really dense. The melopita I made/ate in Sifnos was not anything close to a NY-style cheesecake that uses cream cheese. I would think something more like a farmers cheese mixed in with the ricotta would help get it to the consistency. However, if you use a high quality basket ricotta (it’s now linked in the post), that should do the trick. I have extensively tested this with the whole milk ricotta available at Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, and while not as luxurious as basket ricotta or fresh anthotyro/mizithra, the outcome is delicious.