Crostata (short crust jam tart)
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Categories: Kids, Vegetarian
The variations on crostata are endless as the crust can be more biscuit-like such as in this recipe or cake-like. It can be thin or thick and made with ground nuts (I use hazelnuts here) or flavoured with cocoa, lemon, vanilla or spices. The filling can be any fruit jam whatsoever. The only limitation is your imagination.
When I make short crust I usually make double the recipe and freeze what I don't need so that I can make a crostata with jam from the refrigerator at last minute if needed. The pastry can also be cut into shapes to make biscuits topped with the jam and sandwiched with another piece of pastry with a window cut into it.
The variations on crostata are endless as the crust can be more biscuit-like such as in this recipe or cake-like. It can be thin or thick and made with ground nuts (I use hazelnuts here) or flavoured with cocoa, lemon, vanilla or spices. The filling can be any fruit jam whatsoever. The only limitation is your imagination.
When I make short crust I usually make double the recipe and freeze what I don't need so that I can make a crostata with jam from the refrigerator at last minute if needed. The pastry can also be cut into shapes to make biscuits topped with the jam and sandwiched with another piece of pastry with a window cut into it.
Author: Woo Wei-Duan
Recipe type: Dolci (Dessert)
Cuisine: Multi-regional
Serves: 8 servings
Ingredients
- 2 recipes pasta frolla (short crust pastry) substituting 80 gms ground hazelnutsfor 50 gms of cornstarch and 30 gms of flour of the double recipe
- 320 gms jam (apricotused here)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 175C. Grease a pastry ring.
- Roll out half of the pastry.
- Line the pastry ring. Place the pastry ring on an ungreased parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Use a pastry scraper to help roll the dough around the rolling pin and then unroll into ring mould. Press the pastry into the mould, ensuring that the pastry fits into the bottom right corner of the tin so that when it cooks it doesn’t slide downwards. Use your fingers to push the dough down into the ring and use a thumb to gently press it against the side ensuring that the dough is an even thickness. Use the rolling pin to roll across the top of the tin to remove excess pastry that extends beyond the top of the tart tin. Use a knife to cut any excess dough from the top of the tart using small cutting motions no larger than 3 cm at a time. Place the tin in the refrigerator for 10 minutes as this will help it to keep its shape when you bake it. Prick the bottom of the tart all around to ensure it doesn’t balloon while baking. If using a ring mould, cut the excess paper around the mould.
- Use a offset spatula to spread the jam around the bottom of the tart.
- Roll out the remaining half of the pastry and cut it into strips.
- Place the strips across the tart, weaving them in and out of each other.
- Press the ends into the crust of the tart.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until evenly dark golden brown. Remove from the oven. Slide the pastry off the baking tray onto a wire cooling rack, slide out the paper.
I just had a Crostada from a pastry shop in Val d”Aosta that had the shortcrust, mixed red fruits like raspberries and strawberries and jam but it also had a layer of pastry cream! Delicious. I was trying to find a recipe for that. Seems as though you’d have to chill the pastry cream before putting the jam/fruit on top.
That does sound delicious. I looked up recipes in Italian and there are many variations where they sandwich a layer of jam in between layers of pastry cream or place the jam on top of the pastry cream before or after baking. Some top tart with another layer of pastry as well. You can use my recipe for crostata with fresh fruit (which has the pastry cream) and substitute jam for the fresh fruit. Use a spatula to add a thin coat of slightly warmed jam. Enjoy! https://www.livingalifeincolour.com/recipes/crostata-di-frutta-fresh-fruit-tart/