From the Oven - Raspberry Jam Crostata

We were celebrating a friend's last day @ work with a potluck & I wanted to bring something special & homemade since I always buy things from the store when we have potlucks.  And since we have braved the dangers of using the oven in my apartment without ending up in a fiery flourish, I decided that I should bake something.

The theme for the potluck was "Cuisines of the World" and while I would love to represent my heritage, not a lot of Chinese dishes are baked & even if they were, they are complicated as heck to make.  For whatever reason, Italy popped into my head and so I Google'd "easy Italian desserts."  After browsing through several recipes for Tiramisu & gelato, I fell upon this one from chow.com which sounded/looked delicious but was still easy enough for me to tackle.

This is what the finished product looks like.  I took some liberties with the original recipe by making my own raspberry jam as well as toasting the almond slices ahead of time.  I have also come upon a few tips that can help make this recipe a little easier in the future.


Here is what went into the crostata...
     For the raspberry jam
        11/2 cups fresh raspberries
        1 cup granulated sugar
        1 teaspoon lemon zest
        1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
     For the Crostata
        12 tablespoons (1.5 sticks) butter @ room temperature
        1/2 cup granulated sugar
        1 teaspoon vanilla extract
        1/4 teaspoon almond extract
        1/4 teaspoon salt
        11/2 cups flour
        1/4 cup sliced almonds, raw or toasted

You can make the jam ahead of time...
     In a non'reactive pan - meaning not nonstick - over medium'low heat, put in all the ingredients.
     Smash the raspberries down with a spoon & let the whole thing come to a boil.
     Once it boils, reduce the heat down to the simmer for about 5 minutes.
     Turn off the heat & let it come to room temperature.
     Spoon into a container & put it into the fridge.

When it comes time to make the actual crostata...
     Using an electric mixer, cream together the butter & the sugar until it is light and fluffy.  Add in the vanilla extract, the almond extract, & the salt; combine everything until smooth.
     Slowly, add in the flour & combine until the whole thing looks like wet sand.
     Take 1/2 cup of the dough and press it out onto a plate; put this into the freezer for an hour or so.
     Take the remaining dough & press it out evenly across the bottom of a 10in. springform pan.  Once this is done, spread a layer of jam across, keeping about a 1in border.  Take the frozen dough, break it into small'ish pieces, & sprinkle it all over the jam.  Finally, sprinkle the almond slices.
     Bake in a 350F oven for 30-50 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.
     Let the crostata cool down to room temperature before removing the springform.  Slice it into wedges & serve.

Somethings that I found could've made the process easier were...

1. Don't worry if the jam looks fairly fluid in the pan, it will thicken up in a couple of hours.
2. The crostata never forms into a real dough as the original recipe says.  I found it easier to use a spatula instead of an electric mixer since the high speed can make the flour fly everywhere.
3. Since the dough is like wet sand & therefore difficult to spread evenly, I found that you can put a piece of plastic wrap on top & use a small can/jar as a rolling pin to roll the dough around.
4. The frozen dough was very difficult to get out of the plate so a piece of plastic wrap on the plate would help a lot.

And there you have it!  You can use other types of jam or even with real fruits.  I think the next time I am going to do fresh apple slices.  Mmm.