New Year’s tart with grape scrucchiata, with lactose-free shortcrust pastry, perfect for any occasion. I thought of making this very delicate recipe for New Year’s, using a special jam, originally from Abruzzo, grape scrucchiata. What is it? It’s similar to grape jam, but more rustic. It’s made exclusively with Montepulciano grapes and is sugar-free. The skin is manually separated from the pulp with the grapes and a very slow cooking process follows. This operation is called scrocchiatura, and that’s where the name of this jam comes from. It can be made at home, but it involves a lot of work and only one excellent ingredient, the aforementioned very ripe grapes. Among the ingredients, I’ll leave you the link to order it, while at the end of the recipe I answer the most common questions.
#adv
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Inexpensive
- Rest time: 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 9-inch diameter pan
- Cooking methods: Electric oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: New Year's
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 5 oz lactose-free butter
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 pinch fine salt
- to taste orange zest
- 5 oz grape scrucchiata
- to taste colored sprinkles
- to taste powdered sugar
Tools
- 1 Bowl
- 2 Parchment paper
- 1 Rolling pin
- 1 Pan
Steps
To make the New Year’s tart with grape scrucchiata, first prepare the base of the lactose-free shortcrust pastry as follows. Cut the lactose-free butter into cubes not too small and mix with the powdered sugar. Work quickly until you obtain a sandy mixture. Add the egg yolks, flour, and grated organic orange zest. Mix everything again. I did these operations in the bowl because it was quite large and there was no need to add flour to work it, but you can do everything on the pastry board, keeping a little flour at hand if needed. Form a smooth and homogeneous dough, working it rather quickly. Let it rest, wrapped in plastic wrap or parchment paper, for at least 30 minutes.
Once removed from the fridge, wait 2-3 minutes and roll out the shortcrust pastry between two sheets of parchment paper to avoid adding more flour. The base should be about 3/4 inch thick. Cut out the disk that will be the base of the tart along with the edges, taking measurements with the pan. Quickly work the remaining shortcrust pastry into a dough and put it in the fridge. We’ll need it for the final decorations. Lightly butter the bottom of the chosen pan, dust with flour shaking off any excess, and place the tart inside. Cover generously with scrucchiata and bake in a preheated ventilated oven at 355°F for 30 minutes. This operation will allow the jam to dry.
In the meantime, form the stars by rolling out the remaining shortcrust pastry again between two sheets of parchment paper with a rolling pin. This time the base should be about 3/8 inch thick. Cut out the stars, decorate them if you wish with small colored sprinkles. Bake them on the baking sheet lined with parchment paper for 10 minutes or until they are slightly golden. At the end of cooking, place them gently on top of the tart.
Allow the tart to cool and remove it from the mold. I used one with a removable bottom to only remove the edge ring and make each operation easier. Dust with powdered sugar and serve. The tart will remain soft and flavorful for up to 4 days if stored in a cold environment protected from drafts and direct light.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
If I can’t find the scrucchiata, can I use other jams?
Absolutely, this is just an idea. However, since the scrucchiata is particularly liquid, you can choose, in the case of a thicker jam or marmalade, to bake the entire tart with the decorations together. However, I would suggest doing as in my recipe, with diversified baking times.
