Active Time
1 hr
Total Time
4 1/2 hr
Cranberries are a rarity, even to this day, in Italy, so this crostata represents an achievement that's uniquely Italian-American. Though many crostatas employ jam, this one gets its zest from fresh cranberries cooked down and paired with an almond-scented crust—and the proportion of filling to crust is our idea of perfection.
Ingredients
Makes 8 servings
For pastry dough:
For filling and assembly:
Preparation
Make dough:
Step 1
Pulse almonds with 1/4 cup flour until finely ground (be careful not to grind to a paste).
Step 2
Beat together butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reserve 1 tablespoon beaten egg, chilled, for egg wash and beat remaining egg into butter mixture, then add vanilla and almond extracts, beating well. At low speed, mix in almond mixture, zest, salt, and remaining 1 3/4 cups flour until mixture just forms a dough.
Step 3
Halve dough and form each half into a 5- to 6-inch disk. Wrap disks separately in plastic wrap and chill until firm, at least 30 minutes.
Make filling:
Step 4
Bring cranberries, orange juice, marmalade, brown sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt to a boil in a heavy medium pot, stirring, then simmer, uncovered, until some of cranberries burst and mixture is slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Cool filling quickly by spreading it in a shallow baking pan and chilling until lukewarm, about 15 minutes.
Bake crostata:
Step 5
Preheat oven to 375°F with a foil-lined large baking sheet on middle rack. Generously butter springform pan.
Step 6
Roll out 1 piece of dough between sheets of parchment paper into a 12-inch round (dough will be very tender). Remove top sheet of paper and invert dough into springform pan. (Dough will tear easily but can be patched together with your fingers.) Press dough over bottom and up side of pan, trimming dough to reach 1/2 inch up side of pan. Chill shell.
Step 7
Roll out remaining dough into a 12-inch round in same manner. Remove top sheet of paper, then cut dough into 10 (1/3-inch-wide) strips with pastry wheel and slide (still on wax paper) onto a tray. Freeze strips until firm, about 10 minutes.
Step 8
Spread filling in chilled shell and arrange 5 strips 1 inch apart on filling. Arrange remaining 5 strips 1 inch apart diagonally across first strips to form a lattice with diamond-shaped spaces. Trim edges of all strips flush with edge of shell. Brush lattice top with reserved beaten egg and sprinkle crostata with granulated sugar.
Step 9
Bake crostata in pan on hot baking sheet until pastry is golden and filling is bubbling, 50 to 60 minutes. (If pastry is too brown after 30 minutes, loosely cover crostata with foil.) Cool crostata completely in pan on a rack, 1 1/2 to 2 hours (to allow juices to thicken).
Crostata is best the day it is baked but can be made 1 day ahead and cooled completely, then kept, covered with foil, at room temperature.
Leave a Review
Reviews (14)
Back to TopHi! So I am the former food editor from Gourmet who developed this recipe. I make this every year for my Thanksgiving table, its a must in my Italian family. I too saw that there is a mistake on the cup measure of the almonds in the crust but if you go with the weight, it works just fine. Sometimes recipes go through so many hands and accidentally things get changed. Sorry if this was a problem for you! Although, I am pleased if you liked the results! Gina
Gina Marie
Howard Beach, NY
11/22/2017
good but tart...needs whipped cream on side. Used 1C ground almond meal. Just used topping as crumble (much easier but I suppose not as pretty). All I had was orange pineapple marmalade and it was fine. Baked convection 350 x 45min.
Anonymous
Fl
11/22/2012
I just made another of her Crostata recipes with a very similar crust, and this should call for 3/4 cup of almonds, not 1/8. I know this was mentioned in other reviews but I wanted to make a specific point about it. (Since I didn't make this recipe, I can't really rate it, but don't want to "skew" the fork rating, so I gave it 3 forks which is what I would give the other crostata recipe.)
Anonymous
Nashville
1/19/2011
This will be the fourth time I've made this and is now a tradition for Thanksgiving. Absolutely love it and has always turned out picture perfect from following the recipe. There are never any leftovers. I highly recommend serving it with a lightly whipped Cointreau or brandy cream.
smilynn
Madison, WI
11/23/2010
I would have liked more almond flavor in the crust, even though I already doubled the almond extract to 1/4 t and followed Marilyngov's hint to use 5/8 c almonds next time I would try 1/2 t extract. I would also increase the sugar in the crust a bit: it was pie-dough like, but I'd prefer it a bit more cookie-like. Overall, not sure it was worth all that grinding, blending, freezing, rolling.
waffleston
12/10/2008
Worth the work. . . as mentionned in previous reviews the recipe had some problems but it was delicious. Every bit dissappeared at the Thanksgiving table.
aclucas
Cattail Creek
12/3/2008
I made this recipe exactly as written and it was amazing. Everyone loved it and any leftover dough would make great cookies.
Anonymous
San Francisco, CA
10/29/2008
I used almond meal (1 cup) instead of weighing and grinding the almonds, which worked really well. I couldn't find cranberries (not quite the right time of year, I suppose), so I substituted frozen cherries, and used cranberry juice and cranberry preserves so that it wouldn't get too sweet. I added a little flour to the filling while it was cooking since it didn't look thick enough on its own. It turned out really well, and I'd love to try it as-written once I can find cranberries!
algoebel
Silver Spring, MD
10/6/2008
Thankfully, I read the reviews before making the crostata: thanks to Marilyngov for her corrections. The crostata was the hit of my "pi day" affair on Mar 14. The small piece that was left over until the next day survived quite well.
wlundycan
Belleville, ON
6/10/2008
I used leftover fresh cranberry sauce my usband made for anksgiving and supplemented with frozen pie cherries and outstanding. Watch the almond crust carefully...it browns very quickly. Many raves around the table.
gauchomom
vashon, wa
12/2/2007
The crosata was a hit at our Thanksgiving dinner. My sister, niece, nephew, and I made 3 pies, but was the one we photographed! The crust was delicious and handled well; we used dried cranberries, dried cherries, and a chopped-up orange to replace the orange marmalade. Looking forward to variations with mincemeat, raspberries, and cherries.
SuePritchard
Stamford, CT
11/26/2007
This was excellent, but the recipe has a few problems (typos?). First, 1/8 cup almonds is not equal to 1/4 lb. I weighed mine, and 1/4 lb. was more like 5/8 cup. I used that amount and the results were great. Also, when you cut a 12" round of the crust into 10 strips, they cannot be 1/3" wide. I made mine 1/2" wide and still had plenty of dough to spare. The result was a crust like you see in the photo. And finally, if you trim the dough in the pan to only 1/2", the filling would spill over. You can see by the photo that the tart is more like 1" high; that is what I did and with excellent results. All that chilling and freezing of the dough looks like a lot of trouble, but it really makes the dough a lot easier to work with.
marilyngov
Switzerland
11/26/2007
I did make this as one of three desserts for a party. It was outstanding and the crust worth the extra effort - compared to a standard butter or lard pie crust. I did double the filling as after preparing the first batch, it looked scant so I quickly doubled the recipe. Definitely will be making this again at Christmas.
Anonymous
BC
11/20/2007
I didn't make the crostata yet; even though the ingredients look delicious, it seems like an unnecessarily complicated way of making a much simpler pie, equally good.
ahuvap
11/15/2007
