Apricot & Ginger Crostata with Honey Mascarpone Cream Recipe
Traveling through Italy I would see apricot crostate in the windows of every pasticceria — apricot and apricot jam feel like the most quintessential Italian pastry to me. I wanted to make my own version, so I introduced ginger for a subtle warmth running underneath the fruit.
Sesame seeds in the crust are a small tribute to two things at once — the sesame cookies found throughout Southern Italian bakeries, and a quiet nod to Japanese ingredients. Honey complements the light, delicate flavors of this crostata perfectly. And of course there is mascarpone chantilly — at this point I basically add it to everything.
I also load my chantillys with a generous amount of vanilla bean paste — to me it tastes like vanilla gelato. This crostata is meant to be light, not heavy. Every flavor comes through clearly, and nothing overpowers anything else.
アプリコットと生姜のクロスタータ、はちみつマスカルポーネクリーム
recipe by victoria casella
Meet the Ingredients
Yuzu — a Japanese citrus fruit prized for its complex, almost floral, perfumey aroma — somewhere between lemon, lime, and mandarin. I love using yuzu in place of lemon juice, and I tell people it tastes similar to a key lime. You can find yuzu juice at Asian specialty stores and online — the actual fruit itself is very difficult to find at regular grocery stores. Yuzu is common not only in Japanese cuisine but also Korean cuisine, and it actually originated in China, in the upper regions of the Yangtze River, before being introduced to Japan over a thousand years ago.
Italian 00 Flour — the most finely milled flour traditionally used in Italian baking, especially pasta making, with a softer, lower protein content than standard AP flour. It cannot be substituted 1:1 — AP flour will produce a tougher, less delicate crust. 00 flour is what gives pasta frolla its signature melt-in-your-mouth sandiness.
PanAngeli Vanillina — a traditional Italian vanilla powder used in Italian baking for generations. Where American vanilla (Madagascar Bourbon vanilla) is deep, rich, and caramel-like, Italian vanillina is sweeter, lighter, slightly citrusy, and refreshing — a completely different character that is distinctly Italian. One packet equals approximately 1 tsp of American vanilla extract. Available at Italian specialty stores or online.
Ingredients
— 1½ cups Italian 00 flour
— ¼ cup powdered sugar
— ¼ tsp fine sea salt
— ½ cup European style unsalted butter, cold and cubed
— 2 large egg yolks
— 1 packet PanAngeli Italian vanillina
— Zest of 1 organic lemon
— 1-2 tbsp ice cold water
— 2 tbsp toasted white sesame seeds
Apricot & Ginger Filling
— 8-10 fresh apricots, pitted and halved
— 3 tbsp granulated sugar
— 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated on a microplane
— 1 tsp yuzu juice
— 1 tbsp Madagascar Bourbon vanilla bean paste
— ¼ tsp fine sea salt
— 1 tbsp Italian 00 flour
Honey Mascarpone Cream
— 1 cup heavy cream, cold
— 4 oz mascarpone, room temperature
— ¼ cup honey
— 1 tbsp Madagascar Bourbon vanilla bean paste
To Finish
— 1 egg, beaten — egg wash
— Turbinado sugar
— Powdered sugar
— Gold leaf (optional)
— One small yellow flower (optional)
Method — 手順
Makes one 9 inch crostata — serves 6-8
01. Make the Dough
In a food processor combine 00 flour, powdered sugar, salt, vanillina, and lemon zest. Pulse to combine. Add egg yolks and cold cubed butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add ice cold water one tablespoon at a time, pulsing just until the dough begins to come together. Add toasted sesame seeds and pulse two or three times to distribute evenly — do not overprocess.
02. Chill
Turn dough out onto parchment, shape into a disk — working the dough as little as possible to avoid melting the butter — wrap, and refrigerate minimum 30 minutes. This allows the gluten to relax while keeping the butter cold.
03. Apricot & Ginger Filling
Combine pitted and halved apricots, sugar, microplaned ginger, yuzu juice, vanilla bean paste, salt, and flour in a bowl. Toss gently. Let sit 10 minutes.
04. Roll the Dough
On a lightly floured surface roll the pasta frolla into a circle approximately 12 inches in diameter. Roll, then rotate the dough a quarter turn, then roll again — this prevents sticking and ensures even thickness.
Carefully transfer the rolled dough to a parchment lined baking sheet. The dough is delicate at this stage — transfer to parchment first before adding the filling, then fold from there.
05. Transfer
06. Fill
Arrange apricot halves cut side up in the center, leaving a 2 inch border. Pour any remaining juices from the bowl over the apricots.
07. Fold
Fold the edges of the dough up and over the apricots, pleating as you go, until you have a 9 inch crostata with the center open.
08. Finish the Crust
Brush the folded edges generously with beaten egg — this helps the sesame seeds and turbinado sugar stick to the crust and become nice and golden brown. Sprinkle turbinado sugar generously over the egg washed crust.
09. Bake
Bake at 375°F for 35-40 minutes until the crust is deep golden and the apricots are jammy and caramelized at the edges. Cool completely.
10. Dust
Once completely cool dust lightly with powdered sugar.
11. Honey Mascarpone Cream
Combine room temperature mascarpone, honey, and vanilla bean paste. Whip until combined. Add cold heavy cream and whip to medium stiff peaks.
12. Decorate
Pipe a ribbon of honey mascarpone cream in one top corner of the crostata — off center, asymmetrical. Place one gold leaf deliberately within the ribbon. Place one small yellow flower beside it.
RECIPE NOTES
European style butter has a higher fat content than standard American butter and less water. Less water means a richer color. The higher fat content also means a richer flavor and a more crumbly, sandy texture.
Cold butter is essential. As cold butter bakes in a hot oven, the water within it turns to steam — that steam creates pockets that give the crust flakiness. Cold butter, hot oven: that combination is what produces flaky layers. Additionally, when butter is mixed into the flour it coats the flour strands, preventing too much gluten from developing — this is what keeps the dough tender rather than tough.
Resting the dough allows the gluten to relax while keeping the butter cold and solid. Both things need to happen for the crust to bake properly — relaxed gluten for tenderness, and will roll out easier, and cold butter for flakiness.
Powdered sugar in pasta frolla — rather than granulated — creates a lighter, sandier, more crumbly texture, closer to a sablée cookie than a standard pie crust.
The rolled dough is delicate. Transfer it to parchment before adding the filling — folding the edges is much easier once the dough is already on the surface it will bake on, rather than trying to move a filled crostata afterward.
Turbinado sugar — also called sugar in the raw — has larger, coarser crystals than granulated sugar. It retains its crunch even after baking, giving the finished crust a delicate crystalline crackle.
If yuzu juice is unavailable, lemon juice works perfectly as a substitute in equal parts.
If Italian vanillina is unavailable, 1 tsp of vanilla bean paste can be used in its place in the pasta frolla.
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