GLUTEN-FREE CONVENIENT CHRISTMAS CROSTATA
Think of a large, open, fruit mince pie and you have the idea of our Christmas Crostata. It’s a bit free-form, a bit asymmetrical and a lot tasty!
The following recipe may look long but if you take our suggestion to prepare the three components well in advance this crostata becomes a simple dessert to assemble and bake a few hours before required.
Or take the convenient path and use store bought pastry and fruit mince for a quicker, simpler version.
Caren
CHRISTMAS FRUIT MINCE CROSTATA
Serves 10-12
For a very convenient crostata, use store bought gluten-free pastry and fruit mince.
Our Fruit Mince can be made many weeks ahead or at least 2 days ahead.
Our Gluten-Free Shortcrust Pastry dough can be made a few days ahead and refrigerated, or many weeks ahead and frozen.
The crostata can be baked the day before or a few hours ahead.
2 large sheets of store bought gluten-free short crust pastry,
or 2 portions of Revenge Gluten-Free Shortcrust Pastry, see recipe below
1 recipe Frangipane, see below
600 gm fruit mince, either store bought, or see our Fruit Mince recipe below
1 egg, beaten
Demerara sugar
Icing sugar
Whipped cream or ice cream to serve
Preheat oven to 200°C. Place a pizza stone or flat baking tray in the oven to heat for half an hour while you proceed. This will help the pastry cook on the bottom.
Remove the pastry from the fridge and knead together 1½ portions. The remaining pastry can be used to make decorative stars etc.
Mark out a 32cm circle on a large piece of baking paper, flip it over so the pencil marks don’t touch the pastry, and place the 1½ portions of pastry in the middle. Place another piece of baking paper on top and roll out the pastry to roughly cover the 32cm circle.
With your finger, roughly mark out an inner 26-27cm circle. Spread the frangipane onto the inner circle, leaving about a 3cm uncovered edge.
Spread the fruit mince over the frangipane. Carefully fold the uncovered pastry over the fillings to create an edge. It won’t be neat and that’s okay.
Roll out the leftover pastry and cut decorative stars or other shapes and place some on both the edge and filling or as desired. Place the remaining shapes on a baking paper lined tray.
Brush the pastry edge and shapes with beaten egg and sprinkle over some demerera sugar.
Turn the oven down to 180°C.
Carefully slide the crostata, still on the bottom sheet of baking paper, onto a flat baking tray or pizza tray. Place this on the hot pizza stone or tray previously placed in the oven.
Bake for about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the tray. Now bake the separate pastry shapes for about 7 minutes or until nicely brown.
When ready to serve, slide the crostata from the paper onto a serving platter, dust with icing sugar, add extra pastry shapes if desired and dust with icing sugar. Serve with cream or ice cream.
The crostata can be gently reheated to just warm if required.
Fruit Mince
Start weeks ahead or at least 2 days before.
Makes approximately 1.5kg
600gm fruit mince is required for the crostata but we recommend making the full recipe as the fruit mince keeps incredibly well. And you will have enough for a second crostata or for some individual fruit mince pies.
185 gm raisins, finely chopped
250 gm sultanas, chopped
250 gm currants
100 gm mixed peel
50 gm dried sour cherries, chopped
125 gm glace ginger, finely chopped
100 gm blanched almonds, finely chopped
180 gm brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ lemon, both juice and zest
½ orange, both juice and zest
60 ml brandy
65 gm butter, melted
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored
Sterilise a large glass jar.
Mix together the raisins, sultanas, currants, mixed peel, dried cherries, ginger and almonds.
To make the mixture finer, in two batches, place the mixture in a food processor and chop for a few seconds, being careful not to turn it into a paste. Tip the 2 chopped batches into a large, clean bowl.
In a separate bowl combine the brown sugar, spices, juices, zests, brandy and butter.
Grate the apple with either a box grater or the food processor then squeeze out most of the juice and discard (or drink). Add the grated apple to the butter mixture and stir. Combine the dried fruit mixture and the butter/apple mixture in the large bowl. Using gloved hands, work the mixture until well combined.
Spoon the mix into the glass jar, seal tightly and store in the fridge for up to 3 months, turning and mixing every week.
Revenge Gluten-Free Plain Shortcrust Pastry
The following recipe makes 1 portion of pastry.
2 portions of pastry are required for the crostata, with a little left over. We recommend making the 2 portions in separate batches, as the dough is easier to handle that way.
250 gm Revenge Gluten-free Plain Flour Mix
85 gm caster sugar
Pinch salt
½ teaspoon psyllium husks or guar gum
65 gm unsalted butter, cold, cubed
1 whole egg
1 tablespoon iced water
Place dry ingredients in a food processor and process for a couple of seconds to combine.
Add cold butter cubes and process until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Add egg and process. Add the tablespoon of iced water, a teaspoon at a time, until the pastry comes together. You may need to add more iced water, but only a teaspoon at a time.
Place the pastry onto a sheet of plastic wrap, flatten into a disc about 1cm thick, wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. The pastry will keep in the fridge for at least 1 week.
The Frangipane
120 gm unsalted butter, at warm room temperature
120 gm caster sugar
60 gm ground almonds
2 teaspoons cornflour
Mix the frangipane ingredients together until smooth. Refrigerate if not using immediately.