Features of the preparation of the Italian pie. TOP 7 best crostata recipes with apples, strawberries, cherries, ricotta, nutella, jam, lemon and custard. Video recipes.
Crostata is a simple shortcrust pastry pie made by Italians. Its filling can be jam, fruit, cream cheese, or nutella. On top of it, a mesh of thin strips of dough is necessarily made. For baking, a round shape with ribbed or scalloped sides is used. Next, we will look at the basic principles of making a pie and the most popular recipes suitable for home use.
Features of cooking crostata
The name of the Italian pie "crostata" comes from the word "crosta", which literally means "crust". It perfectly characterizes the type of delicacy, the bottom layer of which consists of thin shortcrust pastry. The history of the creation of most of the dishes has not reached our days, but the crostat pie is a unique exception, because it has 3 versions of its appearance at once:
- Mythical … According to an old legend, the inhabitants of Naples loved to listen to the singing of the siren of Parthenopa and, as a token of gratitude for her beautiful voice, decided to present the mermaid with an exquisite gift in the form of flour, symbolizing strength and wealth, cottage cheese - a symbol of painstaking work, eggs, personifying the beginning of a new life. The mermaid gave these and other offerings to the gods, and they returned them to the Neapolitans in the form of a sweet cake.
- Religious … According to the second version, the recipe for Italian crostata was invented by a nun who lived within the walls of the San Gregorio Armeno monastery. She dedicated the preparation of delicacies to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which was the reason to cook and eat crostat on Good Friday.
- Historical … The Marquis de Rubis, traveling in Naples at night, damaged his crew, and he had to ask for an overnight stay in the house of ordinary farmers, who treated the night guest with a sweet unusual cake. The marquis liked the delicacy so much that he presented his recipe to the royal table. Having tasted crostata, the wife of King Ferdinand II of Bourbon smiled for the first time in her life, after which her husband said a witty phrase: “Crostata made my wife smile. Now I will wait for the next Easter to look at her smile again!"
The traditional Italian crostata is prepared on Easter Eve, but this dish is so delicious that Italians prepare it any other day. Each housewife has her own recipe, differing in ingredients, while the technology is almost identical and has the following features:
- Thin base … A thin layer of shortcrust pastry is placed on the bottom of the baking dish. Despite its high density, it is quite soft to the touch. Due to the high content of butter or margarine in the base, the pie is considered high-calorie, this should be taken into account by those who follow their figure. The crostata dough can be frozen and stored for a long time. It is also used to make shortbread, cake base or dessert baskets. The base is prepared in advance, that is, on the eve of baking.
- Filling … It can be either sweet or salty. Most often, Italians prepare apple crostata, but as a filling they can use not only fruits stewed with sugar and spices, but also fruit purees from apricots, cherries, peaches, berries, plums, quince. Also, the filling can be nut-chocolate paste or custard with pieces of fresh fruits and berries. Housewives of central Italy prefer to cook ricotta pie with sugar and lemon zest, and meat, fish, seafood and vegetables are the filling for salted crostat.
- Taste enhancers … To make the cake more flavorful, you can add vanilla sugar and lemon zest to the base, and sprinkle with cinnamon on top before baking. To add extra sweetness to the treat, sprinkle with powdered sugar on top. At the discretion of the pastry chef, you can add other flavor enhancers, both to the dough and to the filling. This can be vanilla, lemon juice, nutmeg, or various sweet liqueurs.
TOP 7 crostata recipes
There are many recipes for Italian pie. Having mastered the basic principles of cooking, you can independently experiment with fillings and ingredients for the dough, creating your own original dessert. Read on for details on how to cook crostatu according to the classic recipe used by Italians on Easter Eve, as well as the best varieties of delicious pie.
Classic crostata with apples
The classic crostata is filled with apples stewed in sugar syrup. It tastes good both warm and cold.
- Caloric content per 100 g - 240 kcal.
- Servings - 6-8
- Cooking time - 1 hour (excluding dough cooling)
Ingredients:
- Flour - 3 tbsp.
- Eggs - 2 pcs.
- Margarine - 150 g
- White sugar - 1 tbsp
- Brown sugar - 1 tbsp
- Green apples - 4-5 pcs.
- Starch - 2 tablespoons
- Butter - 30 g
- Salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, lemon juice, Cointreau liqueur - to taste
Step-by-step preparation of crostata with apples:
- The dough is prepared the day before the cake is baked. To do this, remove the margarine from the refrigerator in advance, wait until it softens.
- In a large container, chop the margarine with a knife and mix with 2 tbsp. sifted flour.
- Beat 1 egg and the yolk of another egg into the mixture. Eggs should be at room temperature, so they should also be removed from the refrigerator beforehand.
- Add some salt and flavor enhancers of your choice to the mixture.
- Mix all ingredients with a spiral mixer.
- Knead the resulting dough on the table until an elastic homogeneous mass that does not stick to your hands is obtained.
- Roll the dough into a ball, wrap it in cellophane and refrigerate for 1 hour, or even better overnight.
- Prepare the filling, for this, rinse the apples, peel from the stalks, seeds and cut into slices. Their thickness should be no more than 1 cm. Sour varieties of apples are best suited, which retain their shape well during stewing and give the cake a natural sourness.
- Melt 1 tablespoon in a saucepan or skillet. butter, add 1 tbsp into it. white and 4 tbsp. brown sugar, ground cinnamon and a couple tablespoons of liquor. Heat the syrup over low heat until the sugar is completely dissolved.
- Place the apple slices in the syrup, stir, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. The filling should not spread, therefore, when the apples are juiced, add 1-2 tablespoons to them. starch.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator, remove the foil and divide it into pieces: use 2/3 for the base, 1/3 for slicing the strips that form the top of the cake.
- Roll out most of the dough to a thickness of 5-6 mm. Lay the base into the mold. It is not necessary to grease the mold in advance, since the dough contains a lot of margarine. If the sides of the mold have teeth, fill them thoroughly with the base.
- Put the filling on the base, stepping back from the sides of the form 2-3 cm. The apples should lie tightly to each other, but without piling up.
- Roll out the smaller piece with a rolling pin. Using a simple knife or pizza roller, cut the dough into thin strips 2-2.5 cm long. Place the strips over the filling in a grid-like manner.
- Place a roll of dough around the edge of the cake, pressing it lightly against the sides.
- Place the dish in an oven preheated to 210-220 ° C and bake for 20-25 minutes.
The apple crostat should cool slightly after baking. It needs to be cut in a mold, since the shortcrust pastry base is very fragile, and it is unlikely that it will be possible to get the whole cake out without damaging it. The crostat is cut, like a pizza, into triangular pieces. It can be served with tea, cocoa with milk, compote, or eaten without additional drinks.
Crostata with jam
For pie, you can use apricot, peach, plum, or any other jam that you have at hand. If you wish, you can garnish the top with jam with fresh berries or whipped cream.
Ingredients:
- Flour - 500 g
- Butter - 250 g
- Sugar - 200 g
- Powdered sugar - 15 g
- Egg - 2 pcs.
- Vanillin - 2 g
- Baking powder - 10 g
- Jam - 500 g
Step by step preparation of crostata with jam:
- Remove the oil from the refrigerator, wait until softened and chop it with a knife or grate it on a coarse grater.
- In a deep bowl, combine butter with sifted flour, sugar, eggs, vanilla. Add baking powder and knead the dough.
- Form a ball out of it, wrap it in cellophane and put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- After half an hour, remove the dough from the refrigerator, peel off the foil and divide it into 2 uneven pieces.
- Roll out 2/3 of the dough into a thin layer and place on the bottom of a round shape.
- Spread the jam evenly over the base.
- Roll out a thin layer of 1/3 and cut into strips of equal thickness. Form a grid of stripes on the surface of the cake.
- Place the krostat in an oven preheated to 180 ° C.
When the crostata with jam has cooled, sprinkle with icing sugar and garnish with fresh fruit wedges.
Berry crostata with custard
Crostata with berries is prepared using a slightly modified technology. So that they do not lose their shape, first a base filled with custard is baked, and fresh berries are evenly laid out on top of the finished cake. A favorite treat for Italians is the custard and strawberry crostata.
Ingredients:
- Flour - 340 g
- Sugar - 220 g
- Butter - 150 g
- Egg - 1 pc.
- Yolk - 5 pcs.
- Milk - 400 ml
- Salt - 1 pinch
- Vanilla - 1 pod
- Fresh strawberries - 500 g
Step by step preparation of berry crostata with custard:
- Sift flour, mix 300 g with salt and sugar.
- Cut the butter into cubes and combine with the flour mixture.
- Grind the ingredients into coarse crumbs.
- Drive an egg into the center of the mass and add 1 yolk.
- Knead the dough, form a ball out of it, wrap it in cellophane and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Grease a baking dish with butter.
- Prepare the filling for the strawberry crostata, for this, peel the berries from the stalks, rinse thoroughly and dry.
- To prepare the custard, beat the remaining yolks with sugar, add 40 g of flour, stir, cook over low heat with vanilla for about 5 minutes. Remove the pod, gradually pour in the milk. Boil the cream with constant stirring until thickened.
- Roll out the dough, forming a layer 5 mm thick, lay the resulting base into the mold. This crostat cake recipe does not involve a grid of stripes on top, so all the dough is used for the base.
- Fill the base in the mold with the cooled cream and place it in an oven preheated to 180 ° C for 30-35 minutes.
- Place strawberries on top of the custard. The berries can be whole or cut into slices. To get an original pattern in the form of a blossoming flower on a cake, strawberry slices can be inserted into the cream at an angle.
If you want the fresh berry crostata to retain its attractive appearance longer, cover it with a thin layer of gelatin solution on top. It is prepared according to the instructions on the package and applied to the cake with a silicone brush. Strawberry crostat is stored in the refrigerator.
Crostata with cherries
In the summer, the crostata with cherries is prepared from a mix of fresh fruits and cherry or cherry jam, and in winter, only jam can be used. In Italian cuisine, this pie is called Crostata alle visciole. The cherry-filled crostat recipe contains the ingredients for a 27 cm mold.
Ingredients:
- Flour - 190 g
- Yolks - 4 pcs.
- Powdered sugar - 150 g
- Salt - 1 pinch
- Butter - 115 g
- Grated zest 2 lemons
- Fresh cherries - 1 kg
- Cane sugar - 100 g
- Cherry jam - 350 g
Step-by-step preparation of crostata with cherries:
- Pour the sifted flour and sliced butter into the mixer bowl, beat the ingredients until a homogeneous crumbly mass is obtained. If there is no mixer, mash the flour and butter with your hands.
- Put the resulting mixture on the table, add salt, icing sugar, zest of 1 lemon and yolks to it. Knead a homogeneous dough, roll it into a ball, wrap it in cellophane and refrigerate for 2 hours.
- Prepare the filling, for this rinse the cherries, remove the stalks and seeds.
- Put the peeled cherries in a deep frying pan, sprinkle with cane sugar and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes with constant stirring until the cherry juice is completely boiled. Remove from heat and refrigerate.
- Grease a baking dish, sprinkle with flour, shake off excess flour.
- Roll out the cooled dough to a thickness of 5 mm. Transfer the base to the mold, gently press it with your fingers to the bottom and sides to fill the entire interior. Cut off the excess from the sides with a knife.
- Spread the cherry jam evenly on the base, on top of it - stewed cherries. Rub the zest of 1 lemon on top.
- Place the cake in an oven preheated to 160 ° C for 50 minutes.
Cherry krostata can be served chilled, lightly sprinkled with powdered sugar. It can be stored for 3-4 days under food foil or glass cover.
Crostata with nutella
Once you have tasted the crostata with nutella, you will no longer want to eat any other sweets. This shortcrust pastry cake with chocolate nut spread is very quick to prepare, since the filling is sold ready-made and does not require additional preparation.
Ingredients:
- Flour - 2 tbsp.
- Baking powder - 1 tsp
- Butter - 180 g
- Sugar - 3 tablespoons
- Yolks - 3 pcs.
- Water - 1-2 tablespoons
- Nutella - 300-350 g
Step by step preparation of crostata with nutella:
- In a deep bowl, combine flour, baking powder and sugar.
- Soften the butter, rub it with the flour mixture until it becomes a fat crumb.
- Add yolks to the mass, knead the dough. If you get a sticky mixture, add 1 tbsp. water.
- Form a ball out of the dough, wrap it in cellophane, refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Turn on the oven at 200 ° C, grease the mold inside with butter and sprinkle with flour or breadcrumbs.
- Separate 2/3 from the dough, roll it out between 2 sheets of parchment paper to a thickness of 1.5 cm. Place a layer on the bottom of the mold, going over the sides. Cut off the excess. Pierce the base with a fork.
- Spread the nutella in an even layer on the base with a spoon or spatula. On top of the filling, make a grid of thin strips of dough or cut out various shapes from it, for example, hearts or bears.
- Bake the cake at 200 ° C for about 25-30 minutes.
Serve crostata with nutella with tea or cocoa after cooling completely. Before serving, it is advisable to put it out of the mold on a beautiful dish.
Lemon crostata
It is the perfect pie with a delicate flavor and a pleasant citrus aroma. For lemon crostata, the filling is not just a fruit rubbed with sugar, but a specially prepared cream.
Ingredients:
- Flour - 2 tbsp.
- Butter - 200 g
- Sugar - 200 g
- Ground almonds - 1/2 tbsp
- Egg - 1 pc.
- Yolk - 4 pcs.
- Salt - 1 pinch
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Juice of 2 lemons
- Starch - 4 tablespoons
- Water - 1 tablespoon
Step by step preparation of lemon crostata:
- Remove the butter from the refrigerator, chop it with a knife along with flour and 100 g of sugar.
- Add ground almonds, 1 yolk, egg and salt to the resulting crumb. Knead the dough, roll it into a ball, wrap it in cellophane and refrigerate for half an hour.
- Grate the yellow part of the lemon rind on a fine grater, squeeze the juice out of 2 lemons. Pour starch into it and add water. Simmer the mixture over low heat until thickened with constant stirring.
- Remove the thickened mixture from heat, add 3 yolks, ground with 100 g of sugar, and lemon zest. Add 50 g of butter to the cooled cream, mix thoroughly.
- Take the dough out of the refrigerator, roll it out in a thin layer and put it in a mold, the bottom of which must first be covered with paper. Form the sides of the dough, pierce the base several times with a fork.
- Lay parchment paper over the base, top with any legumes and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
- Remove the cooled base from the refrigerator, put it in an oven preheated to 180 ° C for 10 minutes, then remove the paper with the load and bake for another 5 minutes.
- Spread the lemon cream evenly over the base and bake the cake for another 5 minutes, lowering the temperature to 150 ° C.
Garnish with the whipped egg whites. To prepare them, you will need 4 egg whites and 230 g of sugar. The whipped protein mass is applied over the lemon cream, and the crostat is baked for another 30 minutes at 150 ° C.
Crostata with ricotta and chocolate
Amateur culinary experts mistakenly believe that crostata with cottage cheese and ricotta are one and the same recipe. But in reality, cottage cheese cannot replace ricotta, since it has a more delicate texture and milder taste. These types of cheeses are even prepared in different ways: curd is made from milk, and ricotta is made from whey left over from the preparation of mozzarella. Curd crostata turns out to be slightly sour, and the ricotta pie has a delicate, incomparable taste.
Ingredients:
- Flour - 400 g
- Butter - 200 g
- Sugar - 360 g
- Eggs - 4 pcs.
- Salt - 1/4 tsp
- Ricotta - 500 g
- Vanilla sugar - 10 g
- Starch - 2 tablespoons
- Zest of 1 orange
- Dark chocolate - 100 g
Step by step preparation of ricotta and chocolate crostata:
- Sift flour, add sugar, salt, 2 eggs, butter, cut into bars.
- Mix these ingredients with a spiral mixer until a smooth, sandy mass is obtained.
- Roll the dough into a ball, wrap with cellophane and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Combine ricotta with sugar, vanilla, remaining eggs and starch until smooth. To complete the filling, add chopped chocolate and orange zest to the filling.
- Divide the chilled dough into 2 parts. Roll out 1 half and place on the bottom of a mold with a diameter of 24 cm, cut off the excess dough.
- Pour the filling into the mold.
- Roll up a roller from the second part and make high sides out of it for the future cake, and also cut out thin strips to create a grid of dough on the filling.
- Brush the top of the ricotta crostat with a beaten egg.
- Bake the pie at 180 ° C for at least 25 minutes.
Before removing the chocolate and ricotta crostata from the mold, let it brew for 20-30 minutes. During this time, the filling will harden, and the cake itself will become even tastier and more aromatic.
