My mum saw my blog and told me off. She
said that all cakes and cookies and treats here arevery British and there’s no Italian recipes in sight. You could
argue that my cardamom pudding recipe last week was adapted from an Italian cookbook, but truth is: I’ve never made a proper Italian
cake. I have nothing against Italian sweets and desserts, I promise. BUT, most
Italian cakes are quite simple (recipe- and flavour-wise), much less sugary,
less buttery and gooey (and in most cases, significantly healthier) than their
British counterpart. Actually, there’s no Italian word for muffin, cheesecake, brownie,
nor cookie. Italian traditional biscuits are the drier kind (see biscotti &
co.), and we don’t really do shortbread as such. So, even though I’ve always
been best friends with stuff like pandoro and bomboloni and tiramisù, which are
all but dry, low-sugar and healthy, I still found myself stuffing my face with huge amounts of muffins, brownies, cookies and all sorts of puddings as
soon as I stepped into the UK, and that’s what I learned to bake.
But not today! Today I will be a militant
Italian baker – I will show you the wonders ofcrostata. This tart is very
quick and easy to make, full of flavour, super pretty and reasonably healthy.
It’s also quite customisable as you can use whatever flavour of jam you prefer
for the filling. Actually, crostata alla
Nutella is a thing in Italy. Just saying.
Buon appetito!
RASPBERRY JAM CROSTATA
280g (2 ¼ cups) plain flour
90g (1 cup) ground almonds
100g (3/4 cup) soft brown sugar
80ml (1/3 cup ) sunflower oil or other vegetable oil
80ml (1/3 cup) water
Zest of one lemon
1/4
teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
350g (1 cup+1 tablespoon) raspberry jam
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line a flat
surface with parchment paper and sprinkle with flour, and lightly grease a tart
tin. In a large bowl, mix together ground almonds, flour, sugar, baking powder
and salt. Make a well in the middle and pour in the oil. Mix with a fork and
gradually add the water, then the lemon zest. Mix with your hands until the
dough comes together. Set 1/3 of the dough aside and roll out the remaining 2/3
on the floured surface. Fit it to the tin, pressing it firmly into the bottom
and sides. Sweep the rolling pin over the top of the tart tin to crimp the
excess dough, then fill with jam. Roll out the remaining dough and cut it into
strips to place on top of the jam filling. Place in the oven and bake for
18 minutes or until pale golden brown. Allow
the tart to cool on a wire rack for at least an hour without removing it from
the tin – it will crumble if it’s still hot. Serve humming the Italian national anthem.
