Sweet pastry for tarts and pies

This sweet pastry is for tarts, pies and even cookies.

Pasta Frolla is the Italian name for sweet shortcrust pastry. Once you learn this super easy recipe you can get experimental and make all kinds of Italian sweet treats.

It’s super delicious and easy to make just make sure you use cold butter straight out of the fridge!

Food processor pastry

Ingredients

• 240 grams (1 cup) all-purpose white flour
• 125 grams (4 ounces) butter
• 80 grams (2.5 ounces) powdered sugar
• 2 medium eggs
• Zest of 1 medium lemon
• Pinch of salt

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C / 355 F.
2. In a mixing bowl, whip the butter and sugar for 2 – 3 minutes until pale and creamy.
3. Add the eggs one at a time.
4. Add the salt, flour and lemon zest and mix to form a dough.
5. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and refrigerate for up to 1 hour.
6. Remove the pastry from the fridge and leave it, covered, to reach room temperature.
7. Roll out the pastry,and line a shallow 23 cm (9 inch) baking dish with it, taking care to press it into the sides for shaping.
8. Lay a piece of baking parchment into the pastry and fill with baking beans (any dry beans work well. You need them to weigh the pastry down which helps form the interior of the pastry case).
9. Place in the centre of the oven and cook for 30 minutes.
10. Remove from the oven and allow the pastry case to cool completely before removing the beans and the baking parchment.