Lemon Curd and Grape Butter Crostatas

I had never baked an Italian crostata before, but pies and tarts are fairly close cousins, so I went into this challenge with a comfortable familiarity. In fact, for once I didn't prepare days in advance. I started one perfect fall morning, and by lunchtime I'd baked two mini crostata. I used the same dough for each, a variation on Simona's version 1 of pasta frolla in which I substituted some local whole wheat flour I'd received as a gift, and a healthy amount of orange zest. The additions married perfectly with each of the fillings - a grape butter I'd made from our Concord grapes, and a Meyer lemon curd I'd gotten from Emma of Cook Craft Grow, and I found we were nibbling segments of the crostata for breakfast for several days.

I wish I had a little more room to make a larger crostata, but I found that the minis worked just fine, and they baked up really fast.

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

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