The Easiest Peach Crostata - Step by step

During this marvelous season of peaches, what better dessert to make than a peach crostata. A crostata or  peach galette is a scrumptious, rustic dessert. It's pie dough wrapped around fresh fruit and baked to golden goodness. In my book, I consider peach crostata a “healthy” dessert, since it's mostly fruit, right?

The beauty of this dessert, lies in its rustic character. The Japanese call it: wabi sabi. Nothing to do with wasabi! Loosely translated, wabi sabi is the beauty of things imperfect. And so it's the rustic character of this dessert that makes it beautiful.

At this time of year, peaches are plentiful, not to mention super juicy and amazingly tasty. Although we normally associate peaches with Georgia and other southern states, they actually originated in China thousands of years ago. Peaches were a favorite foods of emperors, and consequently no one else was allowed to eat them. From China, peaches then traveled to Persia and were introduced to the Romans.

Step by step photos

1. Place the dry dough ingredients in a food processor and pulse then add the butter and egg.  Pulse to combine and it will start to look like step 2.
2. Pulse to combine.
3. It will start to form a ball.
4. Drop this onto a floured surface.
   
5. Form the dough into a uniform disc (notice it's not lumpy anymore).
6. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for one hour. If you want, make this a day ahead.
7. Place the peaches, lemon juice, cornstarch, thyme and sugar in a bowl. Now would be a good time to preheat the oven to 375°F.
8. Stir to combine until the sugar has dissolved.
9. Combine the milk, room temperature egg, and room temperature Neufchatel in a bowl
10. Blend with a hand blender until smooth and then chill.
    
11. Roll out your dough with a rolling pin to 12". It'll be cold, so use those muscles!
12. Roll the dough onto the rolling pin.
13. Unroll the dough onto to a baking sheet.
14. Spread the chilled cheese mixture over the dough leaving a 2 inch border.
    
15. Add the peaches over the cheese mixture only then fold up the edges and crimp the overlaps.
16. Brush the egg wash on the folded up edge.
17. Sprinkle with coarse sugar over the egg washed edge.
18. Sprinkle some brown sugar and thyme on the peaches. Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown around the edges.

Tips for a great crostata

• The dough can be made in a food processor. Yes, that's right.
• Leave a one hour cushion for your dough to chill in the fridge.
• Let your cream cheese, egg and milk come to room temperature for easy blending.
• Chill the cheese mixture to thicken before spreading over the dough.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Can I make the peach crostata dough in advance and freeze it? Yes, freeze the dough before it is rolled out and is still a flat disc. Wrap the disc with foil and seal it in a freezer bag or container. Thaw it out in the refrigerator for several hours before rolling it out and baking. For best results use the dough within three months.
• How long can I store the finished crostata? It is best to eat this crostata fresh baked. It will last for 3 days in the refrigerator but the crust will start to get a bit softer. Wrap the crostata with foil or plastic wrap while in the refrigerator.
• Can I freeze the finished peach crostata? No, since this crostata contains dairy in the custard it does not freeze well.
• Can I reheat the crostata in the oven from the refrigerator? Yes, preheat the oven to 200°F and heat for 15-30 minutes until warm in the center. A smaller portion will take less time. If half of the crostata is left it will take less time to heat up the center.
• Can I use cream cheese instead of Neufchatel? Sure, these ingredients substitute well for each other in this recipe. The Neufchatel does have a lower amount of fat if you are looking to reduce calories.

Oh, and finally, if and when you make this delicious recipe for crostata, don't forget to let me know what you  think. I love reading your comments. Also, make sure you share this recipe with your friends!

If you are interested in more traditional ethnic type desserts here are a few more to check out:
Polvorones de limón are a Spanish shortbread cookie with a hint of lime and dusted with powdered sugar.
Pistachio rosewater cookies are a Middle Eastern style shortbread cookie with just a floral hint of rosewater.
Tusenbladstarta is a Swedish dessert that is like baking 6 big cookies and layering with custard cream, so good!

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Peach Crostata Recipe Card

How I love peach season! Fresh peach crostata with a creamy Neufchatel filling. It one of my favorite farm to table desserts! 

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: easy baking, galette, peach dessert

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes minutes

Servings: 8 servings

Calories: 385kcal

Author: Analida Braeger

Ingredients

Dough

• 1 ¾ cups flour
• 4 oz unsalted butter (1 stick sliced into 1" pieces)
• 1 pinch salt
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 egg beaten with 1 Tbsp water

Peach Filling

• 4 peaches medium sized cut into ½" slices
• 2 Tbsp lemon juiced
• ⅓ cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp thyme fresh
• 4 tsp cornstarch

Cheese Filling (room temperature to prepare)

• 6 oz Neufchatel softened*
• 2 Tbsp milk
• 1 egg beaten

Finishing Touches Before Baking

• 1 egg beaten with 1 Tbsp water (for egg wash)
• 1 Tbsp sugar course, sprinkled on top of the egg wash
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar sprinkled on top of the peaches

Glaze - After Baking

• 2 Tbsp apple jelly

*Neufchatel is in essence a low fat cream cheese

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Prepare the peach filling: In a bowl place peaches, lemon juice, sugar, thyme, and cornstarch. Mix well and place in the refrigerator.
• Prepare the cheese filling: In a separate bowl, mix with a small hand blender the Neufchatel cheese with milk and the egg and place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes until thick.  (Be sure to have all of these ingredients at room temperature before combining.)  
• For the dough: In a food processor place flour, salt, sugar and vinegar, pulse until combined. Add butter and beaten egg and continue to pulse until mixture forms a ball. Remove from the food processor and flatten out on a floured surface with the palm of your hand. Form a round disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for one hour or overnight if you want to prep this step in advance.
• Roll out the dough on a floured surface to create a 12" circle. Roll up the dough on a rolling pin and carefully transfer to a baking sheet. 
• With a spatula spread chilled cheese and egg mixture around the circle leaving a 2" border.
• Scoop peach mixture on top of the cheese egg mixture and using both hands bring up dough towards peaches crimping overlapping the dough. Also, make sure you pinch well where the dough pieces touch each other to form a crimp.
• Brush the edge of the crust with the egg wash. Sprinkle the course sugar around the edge of the egg wash where it will stick and sprinkle the peaches with brown sugar.
• Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.
• After the crostata has cooled and set, heat the apple jelly in the microwave until slightly melted and lightly brush on the peaches only.  This will keep them moist and shiny looking. 

Notes

• The dough can be made in a food processor. Yes, that's right.
• Leave a one hour cushion for your dough to chill in the fridge.
• Let your cream cheese come to room temp for easy spreading.

Frequently Asked Questions:

• Can I make the peach crostata dough in advance and freeze it? Yes, freeze the dough before it is rolled out and is still a flat disc. Wrap the disc with foil and seal it in a freezer bag or container. Thaw it out in the refrigerator for several hours before rolling it out and baking. For best results use the dough within three months.
• How long can I store the finished crostata? It is best to eat this crostata fresh baked. It will last for 3 days in the refrigerator but the crust will start to get a bit softer. Wrap the crostata with foil or plastic wrap while in the refrigerator.
• Can I freeze the finished peach crostata? No, since this crostata contains dairy in the custard it does not freeze well.
• Can I reheat the crostata in the oven from the refrigerator? Yes, preheat the oven to 200°F and heat for 15-30 minutes until warm in the center. A smaller portion will take less time. If half of the crostata is left it will take less time to heat up the center.
• Can I use cream cheese instead of Neufchatel? Sure, these ingredients substitute well for each other in this recipe. The Neufchatel does have a lower amount of fat if you are looking to reduce calories.

Nutrition

Calories: 385kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 107mg | Sodium: 105mg | Potassium: 242mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 24g | Vitamin A: 910IU | Vitamin C: 8.7mg | Calcium: 54mg | Iron: 1.9mg