Crostata di mela e mirtilli

I can’t be the only one! When my husband and I arrived at the condo we had rented in Madeira Beach, he rushed to the balcony to see the view of the ocean and I checked out the kitchen! When I’m vacationing, baking becomes an exciting challenge! What can I make that doesn’t use a lot of ingredients and utensils, doesn’t take too much time to make, and fills that need for a comforting homemade dessert? Crostata - hands down!! It uses very few utensils and ingredients and always results in an impressive treat! I have to admit that you need a “good enough” attitude when baking on holidays attitude because you’ll need to find substitutions for almost everything! I didn’t mind that there wasn’t a big bowl to mix everything. I used a drinking glass for a rolling pin. Instead of my usual apricot jam that I use to spread on the crust, I stole some of my husband’s favourite blueberry jam! It actually worked really well with the handful of fresh blueberries that I mixed in with the apple slices I used.I didn’t have a pretty tray to serve the crostata and I didn’t have icing sugar to sift over the crust before serving, but I did have a good quality vanilla ice cream! Good enough!

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Prep Time 20

Cook Time 45

Total Time 1 5

Course crostata, Dessert

Cuisine Italian

Servings 8 servings

Ingredients

Crust

2½ cups all-purpose flour plus more as needed
2 tsp granulated sugar
½ tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter chilled and cubed
½ cup ice-cold water plus more as needed
Juice of ½ lemon
little milk and sugar to use just before baking

Filling

4 apples peeled, cored, sliced thinly (I used Honeycrisp because that’s all I had.)
1 cup fresh blueberries
4 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp flour
Juice of ½ lemon
¼ tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp blueberry jam
2 tbsp butter

Instructions

Make Crust

Mix flour, sugar, and salt together in large bowl. Add cubed butter.
Working quickly, use palms of hands to smear butter with flour until pea-sized bits of flour-coated butter form. It’s okay to have a few larger bits of butter.
Add lemon juice to ice-cold water.
Drizzle water, a bit at a time, and stir after each addition. Lightly start gathering dough that clumps together. Continue slowly drizzling water over surface, pushing clumps together.
Dump dough on work surface and start pressing clumps together. Dough should feel moist enough that it barely sticks together.
Drizzle a little more water on drier flour. Do not knead! Simply press dough together, gathering buttery flour. Do not add excessive water or crust will be tough.
Shape dough into ball and wrap in plastic film. Refrigerate overnight or long enough to make filling.

Make Filling

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
In bowl, toss fruit with sugar, flour, juice and cinnamon. Set aside.

Form Crust

Place unwrapped dough on a lightly floured work surface.
Use rolling pin (I used a drinking glass), flatten dough slightly. Then start from middle and with gentle force, roll out starting from centr. Lift flattened dough and turn, ensuring that it doesn’t stick. Add a little more flour if needed. If dough cracks, just moisten with ice water and glue it back together. Roll out to about ¼ “ or ⅛ “ thickness, about 16” diameter.
Transfer dough to parchment-lined baking pan.
Brush centre surface with jam, leaving outer 3” margin.
Pour filling in centre.
Use palms of hands to pleat outer 3” crust over filling. Press lightly to maintain pleats, using a little water as glue. Lightly press on filling to fill in gaps. Add bits of butter over surface of fruit.
Ensure a few blueberries on top for appearance.
Brush milk on top crust surface. Sprinkle with a little sugar. If crust does not feel cold, place in fridge for 20 minutes before baking.
Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce oven to 350 degrees F and continue baking for about 30 minutes, or until crust is golden and fruit juices are bubbly.
Remove from oven and place on rack to cool slightly.Sift with icing sugar. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. (Optional)