Torta Della Nonna | Classic & Free Form
A classic Italian dessert made with buttery pastry filled with silky pastry cream and topped with pine nuts. Baked until lightly golden and finished with powdered sugar, it’s a simple yet elegant cake with a crisp crust and creamy center.
Servings 8 inch tart
Ingredients
For The Short Pastry (Pasta Frolla)
- 1 3/4 Cup (200g) '00' flour, or Bleached all-purpose flour
- 1/4 Cup (60g) Powdered sugar
- Zest from one lemon
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
- 1/8 teaspoon Baking powder
- 1/2 Cup (113g) Unsalted butter, cold cut into one inch pieces
- 1 Large Egg, cold
For The Filling
- 1 Recipe Italian Pastry cream, chilled
Topping
- 1/4 Cup Pine nuts, or sliced almonds
- Powdered sugar for dusting
Instructions
Make the shortcrust pastry
- In a food processor, process the flour (200g), sugar (60g), salt (1/2 teaspoon), lemon zest, and baking powder (1/8 teaspoon) for 5 seconds.
- Add the cold butter (113g) and pulse for about 8 seconds, until the mixture resembles wet sand, and the butter is the size of small peas.
- Add the egg (1 beaten) and vanilla extract (1 teaspoon) and process until a dough is formed.
- Press the dough into a smooth ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes.
Assembling
- Preheat oven to 350F (180C).
- Roll 3/4 of the pastry dough into a 10-inch circle over two pieces of parchment paper; remove the top pieces of parchment paper.
- Use the parchment paper to lift the pastry and place it into an 8-inch tart mold.
- Gently arrange the pastry into the mold using the parchment paper. Refrigerate for about 20 minutes.
- Remove the parchment paper, trim the edges, pour the cooled pastry cream, and spread it into an even layer.
- Roll the remaining pastry into an 8-inch circle, top it over the pastry cream, sprinkle with pine nuts, seal the edges, and bake for 40 minutes over a cookie pan on the lower middle oven rack.
- Allow the tart to cool for about 1-2 hours, then remove from the mold onto your serving dish. Dust with powdered sugar and serve.
Free Form Tart
- Line a large baking pan with parchment paper.
- Roll slightly over 1/2 of the dough into 9-inch circle. (I use a 9-inch cake pan as a guide). Use a sharp knife to trim the edges.
- Gently transfer the rolled dough to the lined baking sheet.
- Mount the pastry cream over the center of the dough, then spread it about 1.5-inch away from the edges of the dough.
- Rolled the second part of the dough into 10-inch circle, then gently top the bottom of the dough with it.
- Gently press the edges, and top with pine nuts or almonds.
- Bake over the middle oven rack for 35 minutes. If the dough starts to brown too fast, reduce the oven temperature to 320°F.
Notes
- This recipe yields one right-inch double-crust tart, or one 9, or ten-inch single-crust tart.
- For a ten inch tart with top crust, double the recipe by half (use one whole egg plus one egg yolk).
- Store leftovers in the refrigerator in a container for up to three days. The pastry and cream can be made up to two days in advanced and kept in the refrigerator.
- To achieve a smoother custard, pass the pastry cream through a fine-mesh sieve before pouring it into the tart shell.
- You can also prepare the pastry dough manually using a large bowl and a pastry cutter.
- Ensure that the pastry ingredients are chilled, while the pastry cream ingredients should be at room temperature.
- Let the tart cool entirely inside the tart shell before flipping it over and cutting it.
- To enhance the flavor of the pastry cream, consider incorporating a hint of almond extract or a dash of Amaretto.