Prep Time : 10 + 20 Minutes | Cook Time : 30 Minutes | Total Time : 3 hours | Difficulty : Moderate
I know, I know it’s like blueberry-palooza up in here but they’re just soooo good. And despite NZ exporting them by the tonne, they are ridiculously expensive here apart from a narrow window in summer. It’s a good thing I have adorable parents that live in a hospitable climate who send me care packages of home-grown produce – they’re just the best! I’ve been putting my blueberry bounty to work in waffles and pies and on my morning muesli and now they are all gone! Sadface. The crostata is the lazy person’s pie, and once the pastry is done the rest is super easy. You can make these with other fruits, but be careful to choose things that aren’t going to release too much liquid.
We’re going to start off by making some pie crust. The best way to keep some flakiness is to do it by hand so you can stop while there are still some pieces of butter floating around. A food processor will make an amazingly uniform dough in seconds but today we want flakes. Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Now take your cold butter and quickly grate it into the bowl using a box grater. This is my best trick for cutting in butter.
Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour until it looks like the picture below. It should take a minute or two at most because the butter is already in small pieces. It should look partially mixed with some different sized pieces of butter still in there.
Mix the milk and lemon juice together and add to the bowl. Working quickly with your hands bring the dough together by sort of folding the flour over the puddle of milk in the middle. As soon as it’s holding together in a mass, tip it out onto a lightly floured surface. Give it a couple of quick folds to finish.
Another trick to save you irritation later is to divide the dough into eight pieces now and push them into rough rounds.
Pop them in a zip lock bag and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 200C (375F). Line a baking sheet with baking paper and set aside. Mix the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and mint in a bowl until smooth and combined.
Roll out each piece of dough to a 6 to 7 inch circle.
Divide the cream cheese filling evenly between the crostatas.
Using the back of a spoon, spread the filling out leaving about 1 and 1/2 inches of pastry border. Top each one with 1/4 cup of blueberries.
Fold the sides of each one in towards the centre. It should take 5 to 6 little folds to get all the way round. Give the pastry a little press at the corners to stick it down a bit.
Brush the tops of each crostata with beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar. This will give the pastry a crunchy finish.
Put them on the baking sheet – they can be pretty close together. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, rotating the tray halfway though, until dark golden and bubbly. They will puff as they cook but don’t worry, they will settle back down once they are out of the oven.
There are no serving pictures of these because we starting eating them and I didn’t want to stop and go back and finish doing the work. I’m sorry. You’ll live. They are absolutely the best while still warm, topped with melting vanilla ice cream…
Blueberry, Cream Cheese + Mint Crostatas
Prep Time : 10 + 20 mins | Cook Time : 30 mins | Total Time : 3 hours | Difficulty : Moderate | Makes : 8 individual crostatas
Golden flaky pastry wrapped around creamy filling and juicy blueberries.
Ingredients:
For the crust:
- 2 and 3/4 cups (400 grams) all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- if using unsalted butter, 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks (225 grams) very cold butter
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (150 mls) cold milk
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
For the filling:
- 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon (250 grams) cream cheese
- 2 large fresh mint leaves, finely sliced
- seeds of 1/2 vanilla bean
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 cups fresh blueberries
To finish:
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/4 cup of extra sugar for sprinkling
– If using metric cups, reduce volume measures by 1 tablespoon for every cup of dry or liquid ingredients –
Equipment:
- Bowls and a baking sheet lined with baking paper
Directions:
We’re going to start off by making some pie crust. The best way to keep some flakiness is to do it by hand so you can stop while there are still some pieces of butter floating around. A food processor will make an amazingly uniform dough in seconds but today we want flakes. Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Now take your cold butter and quickly grate it into the bowl using a box grater. This is my best trick for cutting in butter.
Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour until it looks like the picture below. It should take a minute or two at most because the butter is already in small pieces. It should look partially mixed with some different sized pieces of butter still in there.
Mix the milk and lemon juice together and add to the bowl. Working quickly with your hands bring the dough together by sort of folding the flour over the puddle of milk in the middle. As soon as it’s holding together in a mass, tip it out onto a lightly floured surface. Give it a couple of quick folds to finish.
Another trick to save you irritation later is to divide the dough into eight pieces now and push them into rough rounds.
Pop them in a zip lock bag and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 200C (375F). Line a baking sheet with baking paper and set aside. Mix the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and mint in a bowl until smooth and combined.
Roll out each piece of dough to a 6 to 7 inch circle.
Divide the cream cheese filling evenly between the crostatas.
Using the back of a spoon, spread the filling out leaving about 1 and 1/2 inches of pastry border. Top each one with 1/4 cup of blueberries.
Fold the sides of each one in towards the centre. It should take 5 to 6 little folds to get all the way round. Give the pastry a little press at the corners to stick it down a bit.
Brush the tops of each crostata with beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar. This will give the pastry a crunchy finish.
Put them on the baking sheet – they can be pretty close together. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, rotating the tray halfway though, until dark golden and bubbly.
Cook’s Notes:
- Don’t like or don’t have fresh mint? Leave it out
- Any fresh berries will do the trick, you will need approx 1/4 cup of soft fruit per pie
– Just eat the pies, honestly. They will keep for 3 days in the fridge but they will lose some texture and are best right after they are made –
© 2016 The Winsome Baker. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe.
