Fill 3 small bowls: 1 with Vin Santo, 1 with Alchermes and 1 with coffee (you can also dilute the Vin Santo and Alchermes with a little water for a less alcoholic taste, or, for a version for children, use fruit syrups –better still of two or three different flavours – or a sauce such as the Fattoria’s “La Fragolina”).

Press the ricotta through a sieve and then, in a bowl, mix it with the sugar, beating with an electric whisk until the mixture becomes smooth and creamy. Break a biscuit in half, dip it quickly in one of the bowls of your choice, and place it in the bottom of the ramekin (leave the other half of the biscuit on one side). Take another 6 biscuits: dip 2 in the coffee, 2 in the Alchermes and 2 in the Vin Santo, then “stand them up”, alternating the colours (or rather the flavours), one beside the other around the inside of each ramekin. Use a teaspoon to fill the centre, up to the rim, with the ricotta cream. Fold the 6 biscuits inwards (they’ll break, but it doesn’t matter!) to cover the ricotta. If too much “white” remains uncovered, dampen the half biscuit you put to one side and lay it on top. Fill all the ramekins in this way and keep them in the fridge (covered with cling film) for at least 6 hours, so that the ricotta becomes compact.

Take the ramekins out of the fridge and, one by one, turn them upside down on a plate to remove the mini charlottes, dust them with a little cocoa powder and serve.

They’re a guaranteed success – good to look at (with the biscuits of three different colours and the “white” ricotta in the centre) and good to eat! Using the same ingredients you can prepare one large version, in a ring-shape mould. Line the inside with the biscuits, dipped – alternately – in the three liquids, and pour in the ricotta cream. Now level the surface and cover it with more biscuits (dipped and alternated). Remember that you need to keep it in the fridge for at least 6 hours (maybe even 7 or 8 seeing that it’s bigger) before tipping it out and serving it.