Lemon Curd or Jam Crostata

And Jamie hits again.
I can't help it, I just love every recipe I try.
Even such an everyday recipe as a Jam Crostata, tastes better when made with his recipe.
I've eaten lots of crostatas here in Italy. You can't avoid them even if you wanted to. You'll get one served wherever you go, from tratorias/restaurants to kids'/school/or other parties, at friends' homes or get one as a gift from someone's grandmother.
But the truth is, no offence to anyone, I'm just a very, very demanding pastry tester, I've rarely eaten a really good crostata. A crostata that makes you feel in peace with the rest of the world.
Considering how simple the shortcrust dough used for crostata is, there are important differences regarding the proportion of ingredients as butter-flour one, or even simply egg yolks only vs. whole eggs, baking powder yes or no. And each of these can account for a totally different result in the the end. Therefore, a crostata can taste much, much different from one recipe to another.
With this recipe, I can say I've come as close to perfection as I could.
I happened to have a little lemon curd in the fridge, so I couldn't resist using it in a few of these mini crostatas. But I also used three different home made jams. They all resulted wonderful. But my weakness for everything lemon flavoured takes to vote for lemon curd one as the best one of all.
Which one would you grab first with a cup of tea? Never mind, get some flour flying around your kitchen, break an egg, pull that jar of jam sitting in the fridge,  and make this lovely treat for your family tomorrow.

Lemon Curd or Jam Crostata

(from Jamie Magazine)
* 200 g flour
* 50 g sugar
* 125 g cold butter, chopped
* 1 egg yolk
* 2 TBspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
* 2 TBspoons milk
* powdered sugar for garnish
* jam or jams of your choice (I used plum, amaretti and chocolate jam, plum, grape and peach jam, fig jam - all home made)
* or lemon curd

                                    

Shortly mix the flour and the sugar in a food processor. Add the chopped, cold butter and pulse until the mixture turns into fine crumbs.
Transfer the mixture onto a kneading board, forming a little heap with a well in the middle.
Add the egg yolk, the lemon juice and the milk (or just ice cold water).
Bring the ingredients together, kneading quickly and shortly, just the time necessary to form the dough.
Shape the dough into a disc and wrap it in a piece of plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for 2 hours.
Roll 2/3 of the dough out on a floured kneading board to 2-3 mm thick. Cut out rounds a couple centimeters bigger than your mini tart pans. Press the dough into the greased and floured mini pans covering the bottom and the sides.
Fill the shells with jam or lemon curd.
Form strips from the remaining dough and make a grid over the filling.
Brush the surface with milk and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Refrigerate the crostatas  while the oven is heating to 180°C.
Bake the crostatas for 20-25 minutes.
Let them cool in the pans for 20 minutes, then remove and let cool completely.
Sprinkle them with powdered sugar before serving.

* For homemade Lemon curd, you can use this recipe for Lemon Orange curd, increasing the sugar to 175 g.

Crostatine con lemon curd o confettura

(da Jamie Magazine)
* 200 g di farina
* 50 g di zucchero
* 125 g di burro freddo, tagliato a pezzettini
* 1 tuorlo d'uovo
* 2 cucchiai di succo di limone
* 2 cucchiai di latte
* zucchero a velo per decorare
* confetture a vostra scelta (ho usato confettura di prugne, amaretti e cioccolato, la confettura di prugne, uva fragola e pesche, e la confettura di fichi - tutte fatte in casa)
* oppure lemon curd

Lavorate la farina con lo zucchero nella ciotola di un mixer. Aggiungete il burro freddo e azionate di nuovo il robot a brevi intervalli fino a ottenere un composto sabbioso.
Trasferite il composto sulla spianatoia, formate la classica fontana e mettete al centro il tuorlo, il succo di limone e il latte (o l'acqua molto fredda).
Impastate a mano fino a ottenere un composto liscio ma senza lavorarlo troppo. Formate un disco, avvolgetelo nella pellicola e lasciate rassodare in frigo per 2 ore.
Stendete 2/3 della pasta sulla spianatoia infarinata a uno spessore di 2-3 mm. Con un tagliabiscotti rotondo ricavate dei cerchi di 2 o 3 cm più grandi delle vostre formine per le crostatine.
Rivestite i stampini per le crostatine (precedentemente unti con un po' di burro e infarinati) con i dischi di pasta. Riempiteli con la confettura o lemon curd (senza esagerare).
Con la pasta restante formate delle strisce e intrecciatele sopra il ripieno delle crostatine.
Spennellate la superficie con un po' di latte, cospargetele con lo zucchero a velo e mettetele in frigo finché il forno non si riscalda a 180°C.
Infornate le crostatine e cuocetele per circa 20-25 minuti.
Sfornatele e lasciatele raffreddare per 20 minuti nei stampini, e poi su una griglia.
Cospargetele con lo zucchero a velo e servite.

*Per preparare il Lemon curd, potete usare questa ricetta per Lemon orange curd, aumentando solo la quantità di zucchero a 175 g.

Crostate s lemon curdom ili pekmezom

(iz Jamie Magazina)
* 200 g brašna
* 50 g šećera
* 125 g hladnog maslaca, narezanog na komadiće
* 1 žumanjak
* 2 žlice svježe iscijeđenog soka limuna
* 2 žlice mlijeka
* šećer u prahu za ukras
* pekmez po vašem izboru (koristila sam domaće pekmeze: pekmez od šljiva, amaretta i čokolade, pekmez od šljiva, grožđa i bresaka, i pekmez od smokava)
* ili lemon curd

Kratko izmiksajte brašno i šećer u mikseru (multipraktiku). Dodajte hladan maslac, pa opet pulsirajući izmiksajte da dobijete smjesu poput pijeska (sitnih mrvica) - ne miksajte dugo da se maslac ne zagrije.
Istresite smjesu na radnu površinu, oblikujte hrpicu s rupom u sredini u koju dodajte žumanjak, sok limuna i mlijeko (ili hladnu vodu umjesto mlijeka).
Zamijesite tijesto. Radite brzo i koliko je potrebno da tijesto bude ujednačeno i glatko, ne mijesite ga pretjerano.
Oblikujte kuglu, malo je spljoštite, omotajte prozirnom folijom i stavite u hladnjak 2 sata.
Pobrašnite radnu površinu.
Razvaljajte 2/3 tijesta na debljinu od 2-3 mm.
Izrežite okruglim kalupom krugove od tijesta (2-3 cm veće od promjera kalupića) i utisnite ih u kalupiće za crostate/tartelette, prethodno namaštene i pobrašnjene.
Napunite crostate pekmezom po želji (koristite dobar pekmez, oni želatinizirani će ispariti u pečenju) ili lemon curdom.
Od preostalog tijesta oblikujte tanke trakice i isprepletite ih preko punjenja, odrežite višak i utisnite ih u rub crostate.
Premažite crostate mlijekom uz pomoć kista, pospite ih šećerom u prahu i stavite u hladnjak dok se pećnica ne zagrije na 180°C.
Pecite ih u središnjem dijelu pećnice oko 20-25 minuta.
Ostavite ih da se hlade u kalupu 20 minuta, a zatim ih izvadite iz kalupa i ostavite da se potpuno ohlade.
Prije posluživanja pospite ih šećerom u prahu.

*Lemon curd, je krema od limuna, podrijetlom iz Engleske. Pripremite ga prema ovom receptu za Lemon Orange Curd, samo povećajte količinu šećera na 175 g.