This Pasta Frola or Jam Tart is the Argentinian version of the Italian crostata; Argentina has a substantial Italian descendant population.
My mother-in-law is from Argentina, and we still have family there. It is a great country with friendly people. I have been to Mendoza and Buenos Aires, both very tourist cities.
This tart is delicious and great for when we have no desire to cook fillings. Traditionally filled with peach jam or quince paste, you can use your favorite jam and add fruit.
The dough should be left for 1 hour in the refrigerator before rolling to make it easier to handle. It can also be made the day before and taken out of the fridge about 20 minutes earlier.
Many bakeries in Argentina will also make pasta Frola in small square shapes and sell it with other Facturas like medialunas, Meringues, mil hojas, or Napoleón. So many delightful options for a coffee mid-morning or mid-afternoon.
You may also want to look at the recipe: Peaches and figs strudel.
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Pasta Frola or Jam Tart
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 12
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven baked
Description
A delicious pie
Ingredients
- 2 ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- generous pinch of salt
- 125 grams/ 4 oz of unsalted butter (if using salt, removed the pinch of salt)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- grated lemon, orange or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 jar of jam (500 grams) any flavor
Instructions
- In a bowl or plate, combine flour, baking powder, and salt if you will use them. In another big bowl with a fork or a mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy and pale, about 3 minutes at medium-high speed. Add lemon or orange zest or vanilla extract and incorporate it. Add the egg and yolk and mix until thoroughly combined. With the machine at low speed, add flour mixture and work until the dough is smooth and together.
- Make two disks: one with ⅓ of the dough and another with about ⅔ left. Refrigerate for 1 hour for both discs.
- Preheat the oven to 350F or 180C. Flour the counter. Remove the largest disk of dough from the fridge. Roll the dough until you have the proper diameter to cover the pie pan to be used (I use a 23 cm/9" in diameter with a removable bottom), cover the bottom and edges of the pan with the dough, don't worry, it doesn't need to be perfect. Pour the jam and spread.
- Roll the remaining disk of dough and cut small strips to make the interlacing.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the edges are golden brown, like in the photo.
- Serve at room temperature; the pie can be stored covered for 2-3 days at room temperature.
JB says
So, you say this is a jam tart recipe for when you don't want to cook fruit and that it uses an entire jar of jam. But the photos for the recipe show just a little bit of jam spread on the base and a filling of what looks like canned peaches. But there's no fruit listed in the ingredients or the instructions. So, is the filling really all jam or is it supposed to contain fruit?
Pilar Hernandez says
The most traditional version is with only jam as filling or quince paste.
You can add canned fruit if you want, it's delicious.
All the traditional recipes have many variations depending on regions and families and seasons.
Ania says
Unfortunately this confused me also.. I am glad you posted the question, as going by the pictures, if the tinned fruit was not added, I am not sure the interlaced cross hatch dough on the top would look right.
If you did make the recipe, what did you end up doing?