Here are the ingredients that you need for the berry preserves:
- 1 pound pitted sweet cherries, roughly chopped OR 1 pint of your favorite berries
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice (approx ½ lemon, juiced)
- Pinch salt
- ½ cup water
Here are the ingredients for the base of the dish:
- All-purpose flour 300g + more for rolling out (about 2 ¼ cup)
- Butter 150g – COLD! (about 10 tbsp)
- Eggs 2 large yolks
- Powdered sugar 75g (about ⅔ cup)
- Vanilla beans or extract
- Salt
- Favorite Jam 250g (Need at least 3/4 of a cup)
Here are the directions to make the berry preserves:
In a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan on medium-low heat, stir together all ingredients and continue stirring intermittently.
Once the fruity sugar mixture comes to a gentle boil, bring the heat down to a simmer and set a timer for 15 minutes. Check-in every 5-10 minutes are so and move the mixture across the pan with a spoon or spatula.
You’re looking to reduce the fruit mixture by half. This could take as little as 20 minutes for smaller less hearty berries like blues or raspberries or up to 45 minutes for cherries (the heat will also slow down/speed up the time).
Spoon mixture into the jar while still warm and let cool completely. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 months.
Here are the directions you need to make and assemble the crostata:
Sift together the flour and powdered sugar into a large bowl. Cut your dough into tbsp sized chunks and squeeze in the dough until you have a shaggy dough with no big chunks of butter left.
Using a spatula mix in your two egg yolks and in a pinch of our salt and vanilla if you like. Using your hands combine this dough into a solid mass. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for a 30 minutes.
Roll your chilled dough into a large circle that is 1/8 inch thick and top with jam or preserves, crimping the edges as you like. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes until your crust begins to brown.
