Ack! I’ve done it again. With all of the craziness of Thanksgiving and my life in general, I completely forgot that Saturday was the reveal date for the November Daring Bakers challenge. It wasn’t until I opened my reader last night and saw all of the DB posts that I realized it. The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well. So, I frantically rooted around in my kitchen to see what I could find to throw my crostata together. Better late than never, I guess.
A crostata is basically an Italian tart. The base of a crostata is made with pasta frolla, a sweet short crust pastry or sweet tart dough. The filling is traditionally made with either jam, fruit preserves, pastry cream or any combination of them, but you can use anything your little heart desires. Since I was flying by the seat of my pants, I used what most might probably consider a very unorthodox filling – my leftover cranberry chutney from Thanksgiving. Yes, you read that right. I spread a thick layer of cranberry chutney over that short crust dough and tossed it right in my oven. The chutney was full of fresh cranberries, dried cherries, raisins, jam and sugar. It looked like thick fruit preserves and it tasted delicious, so why not use it! Actually, I think the choice totally embodies the spirit of the Daring Bakers, don’t you? Just call me Kitchen Ninja! read more >>
Filed Under: Baking, Daring Bakers, Holiday Dishes, Italian, Pies and Tarts, Recipes
