Traditional Roman-style Crostata di visciole. A classic "dolce" in Rome and the area, this crostata has a rich buttery pastry dough made with egg yolks, butter, sugar, flour, and lemon zest. The filling is a delightfully tart wild cherry (sour cherry) jam. A perfect dessert to end a family dinner or celebration, or to wow your guests.
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From all the crostata recipes I have on the blog, you can definitely say this is my absolute favorite Italian dessert.
Traditional Roman-style Crostata di visciole
The recipe for this crostata comes from an old Roman cookbook with more than 400 traditional Roman recipes. It is a type of crostata that you can easily find on the dessert menu of some typical Roman trattorie, together with another famous one, Crostata Ricotta e Cioccolato.
Pastafrolla
The pastry dough (pastafrolla) of this crostata is rich, buttery, and fragrant. It is made with egg yolks, butter, sugar, flour, and lemon zest. You can make it either by hand in a large bowl, in a food processor, or in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (K) attachment. See the full recipe scrolling down to the recipe card.
- Work the ingredients quickly until a raggedy dough comes together.
- Form it into a ball, flatten it, wrap it in plastic, and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- After that, with a rolling pin, roll out a little more than half of the dough to a circumference as wide as the tart pan, and not too thick. Reserve the rest of the dough to make the lattice top.
- Place the dough into a greased and floured tart pan, making sure the bottom and sides adhere to the pan. Poke the bottom with a fork.
- With the rest of the dough roll out some ropes.
- Add the jam onto the base of the crostata and spread evenly.
- Arrange the ropes in a lattice design on top.
- Add a rope or some cut out shapes all around the circumference.
- Bake in a 350°F/180°C preheated oven for about 30-35 minutes.
- Let cool on a rack, then slice and serve.
The aroma is heavenly
While the crostata is baking in the oven, there is a wonderful aroma coming from the kitchen. It is indeed a most fragrant dessert.
The taste is even better
In the end, the buttery pastry marries wonderfully with the tartness of the jam. The lemon zest in the dough comes through as a fragrance and as backdrop on your tastebuds, absolutely delightful. The texture is rich, crumbly, soft yet crisp. A pleasure to eat.
Variations
- If you want to follow the traditional old recipe, you can replace the 150 g of butter with 50 g butter + 50 g lard. As for the sugar, I cut the quantity a bit: it was 150 g, a little too much for me.
- Instead of the jam, you could cook down fresh or frozen sour cherries with sugar and some lemon juice.
- You can add a layer of sweetened ricotta on top of the jam and bake it in a taller baking pan, such as a springform pan.
- Optional, once cooled off, dust the top lightly with powdered sugar.
Happy baking!
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Traditional Roman-style Crostata di visciole
Traditional Roman-style Crostata di visciole. A classic "dolce" in Rome and the area, this crostata has a rich buttery pastry dough made with egg yolks, butter, sugar, flour, and lemon zest. The filling, a delightfully tart wild cherry (sour cherry) jam. Perfect dessert to end a family dinner or celebration, or to wow your guests.
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 300 g flour
- 130 g sugar
- 150 g butter (or 50 g butter + 50 g lard for a more traditional recipe)
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 organic lemon, the zest
- about 250 g wild cherry (sour cherry) jam (marmellata di visciole, in Italian)
Instructions
- Work the ingredients quickly until a raggedy dough comes together.
- Form it into a ball, flatten it, wrap it in plastic, and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- After that, with a rolling pin, roll out a little more than half of the dough to a circumference as wide as the tart pan. Reserve the rest of the dough to make the lattice top.
- Place the dough into a greased and floured tart pan, making sure the bottom and sides adhere to the pan. Poke the bottom with a fork.
- With the rest of the dough roll out some ropes.
- Add the jam onto the base of the crostata and spread evenly.
- Arrange the ropes in a lattice design on top.
- Add a rope or some cut out shapes all around the circumference.
- Bake in a 350°F/180°C preheated oven for about 30-35 minutes.
- Let cool on a rack, then slice and serve.
- Optional, dust the top lightly with powdered sugar.
Notes
When rolling out the dough, to prevent it from sticking to the countertop or rolling pin, place your dough over a large sheet of lightly floured parchment paper. Then, put another sheet of parchment paper on top of the dough, basically sandwiching it between the two layers of paper. Starting at the center of the disk, roll it away from you, then spin the dough a quarter turn and again, roll away from you, continuing this until you reach the desired thickness.
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Italian
Keywords: dessert, crostata, dolce, rome, traditional, butter, eggs, lemon zest, sweets, italian
I love baking and kneading dough because it takes me to a happy place in my soul.
veenaazmanov says
Unique dessert idea. Thanks. Definitely on my list of best dessert option. My next party has this on my table for sure. Presentation tempting.
★★★★★
Thank you! It's a great dessert for a party! Hope you try it!
Sangeetha S says
I love how you describe the rich buttery pastry dough and the tartness of the wild cherry jam filling. It sounds like the perfect combination of sweet and tangy. Thank you for sharing this recipe with us!
It's such a great combination! Thank you!
Anna says
I really want to make this crostata, but just wondering what type of sugar did you use? Some of pasta frollas recipes I've looked at use powdered sugar, so I just want to make sure if I use regular granulated sugar it will still be OK?
★★★★★
Thank you for your interest! No, not all recipe for pastafrolla use powdered sugar. Mostly use granulated sugar, especially in old recipes like this one. I personally only use unrefined cane sugar. And it still works good :). Let me now how it goes!
Tristin says
Absolutely stunning! This pie was not as difficult to make as it looks and the cherry jam was the perfect flavor.
★★★★★
Thank you! Yes, the jam is a really good compliment to the tart.
Nicole Washington says
Love love love anything with cherries.I appreciate you for sharing this authentic way of making this pie!
You're welcome! I love this traditional Roman dessert 😉 .
Ann says
Oh wow, this looks so yummy! I plan to make it today for dessert tonight. Thanks for the recipe share!
★★★★★
Thank you! It's such a quick one to make, and so delicious!
Amy Liu Dong says
Looks like an easy and delicious dessert recipe to make for my nieces's birthday. I am sure she will live this!
★★★★★
Thanks! Yes, it is easy and quite fast. Enjoy!
Jacqueline Debono says
I love Italian crostata and have made it with different jams like apricot and with fresh fruit. Sour cherry jam sounds really good. Definitely want to make this one!
★★★★★
Thanks, Jacqueline! Here is the pastry crust that is really different from other pastafrolla recipes. And yes, the jam is such a good one. Hope you try it!
Jamie says
This is such a great-looking pie, it looks absolutely yummy and very delicious! I agree a perfect dessert for any given occasion! Loved it!
★★★★★
Thank you so much!
LaKita says
I absolutely love Italian crostata and have never tried making it at home, so happy that I stumbled on this recipe to give it a try soon!
★★★★★
Thank you! Hope you love it as much as we do!