Crostata with homemade Nutella – no butter, no eggs, no milk!

Crostata, tart, gallette. Three different ways to express the same concept: a flaky crumbly crust filled either with fruit jam or with a chocolate mousse and decorated on top with the same dough of the crust. Simply delicious, tremendously easy to prepare.

Crostata is the very traditional sweet that you usually prepare at home and serve for breakfast or for an afternoon snack to your kids: a slice of homemade crostata + a nice glass of milk.

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Like tons of traditional recipes you can really play with the ingredients and prepare a traditional crostata, a lighter crostata, a vegan crostata….today I’m sharing with you my “light – allergy free” recipe without butter, without eggs and without milk. Compared to the traditional recipe, the crust is of course less buttery and more on the bread side. Thanks to the yogurt the crust is very soft.

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As my little Luca is kind of addicted to Nutella (or anything that runs in the chocolate family…) I decided to fill my crostata with my homemade Nutella (always to stay on the healthy side!!!). You can always substitute the Nutella or chocolate spread with a fruit jam: strawberries, apricots, peaches…you name it!!

Let’s start from the ingredients:

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How to proceed:

– in a medium bowl add all the ingredients starting from flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. On top of them add the sugar, the yogurt, the apple sauce and the zest of half lemon.

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– start mixing all the ingredients with a fork or a spoon at first. You do not want all the wet ingredients to get attached to your hands 😉

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– When you will see that the mix will start getting crumbly, you will continue kneading the dough with your hands in order to obtain a compact and smooth ball.

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– Remove 1/3 of the dough and set it apart. We will need it for the final decoration. Take a tart baking pan and spread the dough on the base with your hands. You want the crostata base to be around 1/4 inch tick (5mm)

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– spread on top of the crostata base a generous layer of homemade Nutella (click the link for the recipe!). The more…the better 😉

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– It’s time to take the 1/3 of dough that we set apart at the beginning. Dust a flat surface with some flour (and your hands too..you will need it). and divide the dough in small balls.

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– With your hands roll the small balls in order to obtain long cylindric stripes. The traditional recipe uses the roller pin to flatten the crostata base and the stripes, but I find easier to use my hands and I really like the homey look of the crostata once baked. In particular, as the dough is very soft, i like that the base and the stripes are irregular and bumpy.

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– Final decoration: place the stripes on top of the Nutella layer creating a chessboard look.

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– Few brushes of milk on the dough surface and a sprinkle of granulated sugar on top.

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– The oven is preheated at 400F/ 200C. Bake the crostata for 30 minutes and let it cool down 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!!!

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6 Comments

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  • Reply
    ami@naivecookcooks
    October 4, 2014 at 4:20 am

    Ok I have to try this since it has no eggs, no butter and no milk!! Crazy brilliant!

  • Reply
    cavallero oreste
    November 13, 2014 at 6:22 pm

    ciao,
    vorrei avere la ricetta della crostata in italiano.
    Saluti e grazie.

    • User Avatar
      Reply
      Barbara Lamperti
      November 20, 2014 at 4:46 am

      Ciao Oreste, grazie per seguire BuonaPappa.

      ecco gli ingredienti in Italiano: 300 gr. di farina, 170 gr. di yogurt bianco alla vaniglia, 80gr. di zucchero di canna, 3 cucchiai di purea di mele, 150 gr di nutella, 1 cucchiaino di lievito per dolci, 1/2 cucchiaino di bicarbonato, 1/4 di cucchiaino di sale, scorza di mezzo limone, 1 cucchiaio di latte e 1 cucchiaio di zucchero di canna.

      procedimento:
      in una bella ciotola capiente unisci tutti gli ingredienti: farina, lievito, bicarbonato,sale. aggiungi zucchero, yogurt, purea di mele, scorza di limone. gira il tutto con una forchetta. quando si inziera’ a formare un bel composto non troppo appiccicoso puoi continuare a lavorarlo con le mani fino ad ottenere un bel panetto compatto. Taglia 1/3 del panetto e tienilo da parte, ti servirà’ per i bordi e la decorazione. Prendi la rimanente parte del panetto e stendila piano piano con le mani sulla base di una tortiera per crostate. Spalma sulla base una bella dose di nutella e con 1/3 del panetto che avevi lasciato in disparte ricava i bordi e le decorazioni a rombi della crostata. Io ho usato semplicemente le mie mani per formate tanti rotolini o cilindretti. Con un pennello da cucina spennella un po’ di latte sulla superficie della crostata e spolvera sopra una cucchiaiata di zucchero. Cucina la crostata a 200 gradi per 30 minuti.

      Fammi sapere se ti piace!!! buona giornata, b

  • Reply
    yaya1
    March 30, 2015 at 4:13 pm

    Hi
    I followed your crostata recipe in details, but my crostata came out looking like a sponge cake. Where do you think I went wrong??? Your advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

    • User Avatar
      Reply
      Barbara Lamperti
      April 9, 2015 at 4:21 am

      Hi!
      Thank you for watching BuonaPappa 🙂
      This crostata recipe is an “allergy free” one, as it doesn’t require butter, eggs or milk at all! That’s why the final result is not the buttery crumbly one of the traditional recipe.
      If the crostata was a bit too spongy, try to reduce the applesauce from 3 tablespoons to 1. It might help.
      If you do not have any allergy, you might want to try the traditional recipe. Check this post for the crust:
      https://www.buonapappa.net/crostata-di-frutta-fruit-tart-for-mothers-day/
      You can use Nutella as a wonderful filling!!
      ciao!!
      b

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