Crostata is a traditional Italian jam tart made with shortcrust pastry and an fruit filling, it’s super easy to make and tastes delicious! Serve your crostata for breakfast with a cappuccino or for dessert!

This rustic jam tart is super popular and is eaten all over Italy for breakfast, as a snack or a dessert.

The ingredients for the pastry dough

flour type 00 (or unbleached all-purpose or cake flour)

eggs, organic free-range, at room temperature

butter, cold

sugar (granulated or cane sugar)

lemon zest, from an organic lemon

baking powder (just a teaspoon), it makes the pastry a little softer, still crumbly but less “short”

Making the dough – step 1

Firstly, on a work surface place the flour making a hole in the middle and add the sugar, the cubed butter, eggs, lemon zest, and baking powder.

Secondly, mix the ingredients quickly with a fork (or a bench scraper).

Thirdly, start working the dough with your fingertips.

Fourthly, knead it lightly but do not overwork so as not to warm up the butter too much.

As shown above, work it just until it binds together, then shape it into a ball.

Lastly wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least half an hour.

Rolling the dough – step 2

After the resting time in the fridge, take out and set aside about a quarter of the dough for the lattice. On a floured board and with a floured rolling pin, start rolling out the dough. You could also roll it in between two sheets of parchment paper.

Roll it to about 4 mm thickness.

Next, place the rolled dough into a tart pan, pressing the bottom and up the sides, patching any holes that might occur, and trimming the excess dough on the top edge (add it to the dough that you have already set aside).

Now, prick the bottom of the pastry with a fork.

Assembling the crostata – step 3

Afterwards, spread the jam evenly on the surface. You can use any type of jam, I used homemade blackberry jam.

Then, with a pastry cutter (or a ravioli cutter with a zig-zag wheel), cut 1/4 inch strips of pastry.

Using a spatula to lift the strips, start placing them cross wide on the jam, forming a diamond lattice pattern.

Re-roll the scraps of dough and cut more strips to cover the surface of the crostata, then, with a fork, seal the edges of the pastry (you can also use leftover pastry to make a nice border all around).

Finally, bake the jam crostata in the preheated oven (180°C/350°F) for about 35 minutes.

The taste test

The crostata is crispy on the outside, tender and crumbly on the inside. The jam inside is well-balanced with a lovely buttery flavour and a citrus undertone. It’s not too sweet, but it is extremely delicious. The crostata is good for both adults and children. It can be eaten as a dessert, a snack, or even for breakfast! Yes, there really is jam inside.

Enjoy!