Crostata di Marmellata Jam Tart

15 Jul 2025

There are some bakes that feel as though they’ve always been part of family life – quietly ever-present, dependable, and much loved. Crostata is one of them. For Olivia Cavalli, chef, food writer and stylist, it’s a bake that brings back vivid memories of time spent in Italy with her Nonna, whose crostate were legendary within the family. A simple, rustic tart, crostata is a staple across Italy – on breakfast tables, in bakeries and behind every café counter – most often filled with jam and topped with a golden lattice. Olivia shares her take with a homemade apricot jam, though it welcomes whatever fruit is in season. Serve it sliced with a cup of something warm, and if you’re lucky, a quiet moment to savour it.

Crostata is most often filled with jam but sometimes fresh fruit, Nutella, ricotta or pastry cream. You find it all over Italy, in every coffee shop, restaurant and bakery and on breakfast tables up and down the country. My Nonna’s crostate are famous in our family – they were always something we’d look forward to eating when we visited.

Make your own jam if you have the time and experiment with whichever fruit is in season – I’ve given a recipe for apricot jam below, but plum and cherry are also delicious. You can, of course, use shop-bought jam too. If it’s quite hard-set, loosen it slightly with a few tablespoons of warm water before spooning it in.

Serves 8–10

Ingredients 

For the jam:
about 1kg/ ripe apricots, halved and pitted (900g pitted weight)
juice of ½ lemon
400g  granulated sugar
fine salt

For the pastry:
250g plain flour
120g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes and chilled, plus more for the tin
120g icing sugar, plus more for dusting
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
fine salt

1. For the jam, put the apricots and lemon juice into a saucepan over a medium heat and cook for around 30 minutes (keep the lid on if your apricots are quite hard, as it will help them soften). Stir regularly and squash them with a wooden spoon to help release their juices.

2. When the fruit has collapsed, take it off the heat and pass it through a sieve, with a bowl underneath, to remove the skins and tough fibres. You should be left with about 650g apricot purée. 

3. Return this to the pan with the sugar and a pinch of salt and cook over a medium-low heat for another 40–50 minutes until it has thickened. Watch it and stir it regularly to make sure it isn’t burning on the bottom. The jam will continue to thicken as it cools, leaving a softer-set jam, which is just what we want for the crostata.

4. You’ll need around 400–450g, so any leftovers can be kept in a jar in the refrigerator and used for toast, yogurt, porridge or biscuits. To make the pastry, put the flour, butter and sugar into a mixing bowl and use your fingers to rub everything together until no large chunks of butter remain and you’re left with a loose crumb. 

5. Add the lemon zest, vanilla and a pinch of salt, stir to combine and then make a well in the middle with your fingers. Crack 1 whole egg and 1 yolk (reserve the extra white) into the well and start mixing everything together.

6. Turn the dough onto a clean work surface and knead lightly, just until you have a nice, smooth ball. Try not to handle it too much. Wrap the dough in cling film and let it rest in the refrigerator for a minimum of 30 minutes, or, even better, overnight.
7. Butter a 24cm loose-bottomed tart tin and preheat the oven to 180°C fan. Unwrap the dough and divide it into 2 pieces, one slightly larger than the other. Dust your work surface with icing sugar to prevent sticking and use a rolling pin to roll the larger piece into a rough circle, large enough to fit into the pie tin and about the thickness of a £1 coin (about 3mm).

8. Transfer the pastry to the prepared tin, using your fingers to press it down into the edges and trim any overhanging dough off the sides. Use these scraps to touch up any areas that look a little thin and to help form a good crust around the rim.

9. Spoon the cooled jam into the tart shell, using the back of a spoon to push it to the sides and level it out evenly.

10. Roll the remaining pastry out to the same thickness and use a knife or pastry wheel to cut strips around 2cm wide. Lay the strips across the top of the pie in a criss-cross pattern, trimming the excess bits off and rolling them out again if needed to make more. Brush the lattice strips with the leftover egg white and put the crostata in the middle of the oven for 25–30 minutes, until the jam is bubbling and the pastry golden.

11. Leave to cool completely before slicing. Dust with icing sugar, if you like. Store at room temperature in an airtight container – it improves with a few days’ age.

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