Pear Blackberry Crostata Recipes

Steps:

• For the pastry:
• Place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse a few times to combine. Add the butter and toss quickly (and carefully!) with your fingers to coat each cube of butter with the flour. Pulse 12 to 15 times, or until the butter is the size of peas. With the motor running, add the ice water all at once through the feed tube. Keep hitting the pulse button to combine, but stop the machine just before the dough comes together. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured board, roll it into a ball, cut in half, and form into 2 flat disks. Wrap the disks in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. If you only need 1 disk of dough The other disk of dough can be frozen.
• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Roll the pastry into an 11-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Transfer it to the baking sheet.
• For the pastry (makes 2 crostatas) .
• For the filling:
• Cut the peaches and plums in wedges and place them in a bowl with the blueberries. Toss them with 1 tablespoon of the flour, 1 tablespoon of the sugar, the orange zest, and the orange juice. Place the mixed fruit on the dough circle, leaving a 1 1/2-inch border.
• Combine the 1/4 cup flour, the 1/4 cup sugar, and the salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture is crumbly. Pour into a bowl and rub it with your fingers until it starts to hold together. Sprinkle evenly over the fruit. Gently fold the border of the pastry over the fruit, pleating it to make an edge.
• Bake the crostata for 20 to 25 minutes, until the crust is golden and the fruit is tender. Let the crostata cool for 5 minutes, then use 2 large spatulas to transfer it to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Steps:

• Make the Pie Dough: In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar, and salt and mix to combine. Add the butter and continue mixing until the mixture holds together when you clump it, and there are pecan-sized lumps of butter still visible.
• Meanwhile, whisk together the yolks and milk in small bowl.
• Add the yolk mixture to the flour mixture and mix until a dough forms. Transfer the dough to a sheet of plastic wrap, wrap well and store in the refrigerator for several hours. (The dough will keep for several days in the fridge and several weeks in the freezer.)
• Make the Almond Cream: In the standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add almond flour and mix until just combined. Add eggs and mix until combined. Add flour, vanilla, and salt and mix. Store covered in refrigerator for up to a week.
• Make the Roasted Pears: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Toss the pears with the ginger in a roasting pan and arrange them in a single layer. Sprinkle the sugar on top and dot with the butter. Bake, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 45 minutes. Let cool. (Store covered in the refrigerator for up to a week.)
• Assemble the Crostata: Using half of the pie dough (reserve half for another use), roll the dough out on a lightly floured work surface into a circle about 12 to 14 inches in diameter and 1/8 inch thick. Transfer the dough to a lightly buttered baking sheet.
• Using a spatula, spread a circle of almond cream about 8 inches in diameter in the center of the dough (use about 1/2 cup of the almond cream). Arrange the pears in concentric circles in 2 layers on top of almond cream circle. Sprinkle the cranberries on top of the pears. Fold the edges of the dough in, slightly covering the pears, to form a free-form tart. Brush with the beaten egg and bake until the pastry is golden brown, about 1 hour. Remove from oven, let cool, and serve.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
• In a medium bowl, add cream cheese, sugar, flour, 1 egg and vanilla. Beat with a hand mixer until well blended and smooth. Set aside.
• Divide each package of almond paste into 4 equal portions. On a floured work surface roll each portion into a 6-inch round, about 1/8-inch thick. Put 2 tablespoons of the cream cheese filling into the center of each round. Spread the filling out in an even layer, about 1/2-inch from the edge of the round.
• Quarter each pear and remove the core. Cut each quarter into 5 slices. Fan out 5 of the pear slices on top of the filling in the center of 1 of the rounds. Gently fold the edge of the almond paste round over the edge of the filling. Transfer to the prepared baking sheets and repeat with the remaining almond rounds, filling and pears.
• Whisk together the remaining egg and 1 tablespoon of water in a small bowl until well blended. Using a pastry brush lightly brush each crostata with the egg wash and sprinkle each with the raw sugar.
• Put the baking sheets into the oven and bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool. Serve each crostata on individual plates with a small scoop of ice cream and garnished with sliced almonds and mint.

Steps:

• In the bowl of a mixer, blend the butter, flour, sugar, and lemon zest at low speed until the mixture is coarse and sandy-looking. Add the egg mixture and blend just until the mixture comes together. Form into a ball, wrap with plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. On a floured surface, roll the dough out to a rough circle about 14 inches in diameter. Transfer to the baking sheet. All around the edge of the dough, fold in the outer 1/2-inch to form a rough, "rustic" edge for the tart. Using a rubber spatula, gently spread the jam over the bottom of the tart. Then arrange the pear wedges in concentric circles over the jam. Dot with raspberries and drizzle with the honey. With a pastry brush, brush the tart edge with the milk. Sprinkle with the coarse sugar. Bake until the fruit is tender and the underside of the tart is lightly browned, 25 to 30 minutes.

Steps:

• For the pastry, place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse a few times to combine. Add the butter and toss quickly with your fingers to coat each cube of butter with the flour. Pulse 12 to 15 times, or until the butter is the size of peas. With the motor running, add the 1/4 cup ice water all at once through the feed tube. Keep hitting the pulse button to combine, but stop the machine just before the dough comes together. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured board and form into 2 disks. Wrap the disks with plastic and refrigerate for at least one hour.
• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
• Roll each pastry disk into an 11-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Transfer them to 2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
• For the filling, peel, core, and quarter the pears. Cut each quarter into big chunks. Toss the chunks with the orange zest. Divide the pear chunks between the pastries, covering the dough and leaving a 1 1/2-inch border. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of cranberries over the top of each tart.
• Combine the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and allspice in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture is crumbly. Pour into a bowl and rub it with your fingers until it starts holding together. Sprinkle evenly over the top of the two tarts. Gently fold the border of each tart over the pears, pleating it to make a circle.
• Bake the crostatas for 30 minutes, or until the crust is golden and the pears are tender. Let the tarts cool for 5 minutes, then use 2 large spatulas to transfer them to wire racks.

Steps:

• Make the jam: In a medium saucepan, stir together blackberries, blueberries, sugar and lemon verbena, if using. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally at first, then more frequently as the mixture starts to bubble and reduce.
• When mixture has reduced and looks syrupy (about 30 minutes total), stir in lemon juice and zest. Taste and add sugar if necessary. (This depends on how sweet your berries were to begin with.) Cook for 3 minutes longer, stirring frequently to prevent burning. When the jam is thickened and shiny but still slightly runnier than you expect jam to be, take it off the heat; it will continue to thicken as it cools.
• Scrape jam into a bowl or heatproof container, stir in vanilla and let cool to room temperature. Taste and stir in a little more lemon juice if the jam seems very sweet. At this point, the cooled jam can be chilled for up to 1 week.
• Make the dough: In a medium bowl, whisk together all-purpose and whole-wheat flours, and set aside. In a second bowl and using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in egg yolks, lemon zest, vanilla, salt and almond extract until combined, then beat in flour mixture.
• Scoop 1/2 cup of the dough into a bowl or container, cover and chill. Transfer remaining dough to a 9- or 10-inch tart pan and use floured fingers to press evenly into bottom and sides. Chill crust in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.
• When ready to bake, heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread jam evenly into crust, then using your fingers, crumble reserved 1/2 cup dough over jam. Sprinkle with almonds and Demerara sugar.
• Bake until golden, 38 to 48 minutes. Let cool completely to room temperature before serving.

Steps:

• Make the dough: Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a stand mixer or in a bowl with a sturdy whisk, beat together sugar, salt, eggs and butter. Fold in flour and knead the dough into a ball. Squash the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour or up to 2 days before using. (Dough can also be frozen up to 2 months.) Roll out dough using a lightly floured rolling pin or press dough into a 10-inch French tart pan. Freeze or refrigerate tart shell while you make the filling. (It is not necessary to blind bake the tart shell.)
• Make the filling: Whisk together almonds, sugar, butter, egg yolks and whole egg until creamy, then whisk in rum and almond extract.
• Spread the frangipane batter evenly over the bottom of tart shell, and arrange pear slices over in a circular pattern. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar. Bake at 375 degrees, for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees. (If pastry is browning too quickly, loosely cover edges with foil.) Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden but not too dark and a toothpick pushed into the center of the tart comes out clean. If it doesn't, bake a few minutes longer.