Peach Crostata
This Peach Crostata is an incredibly easy dessert that can be made as big or as little as you want! Fresh peach slices are tossed in brown sugar, cinnamon, and spiced rum, nestled into a free-form shaped pie crust, and baked into a rustic crostata. This is the easiest peach tart you’ll ever make!
When peaches are fresh, cheap, and abundant in the summertime, I can never get enough of them. I’ll chop them up and throw them into Mango Salsa, Kale Salad, I grill them and serve with a Bourbon Brown Butter Sauce, and I’ll make Sparkling Peach Iced Tea. There are so many great things to do with them.
But a classic Peach Crostata is arguably the best way to enjoy fresh summer peaches, especially a la mode with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream on top!
Tips for Best Results
Use *just* ripe peaches that are still firm – You want to use ripe peaches that are as sweet as possible, but try to catch them when they’re still firm. If you start with mushy peaches, they will really break down during baking. But if you use firm peaches, they’ll still be al dente after baking, and have great texture.
Keep the pie crust cold – What I like to do is roll out the pie crust on my baking tray, then pop it into the freezer while I slice the peaches. Then as you fill the crust, it should warm just enough to crimp the edges, but not so much that the butter starts to melt.
Add turbinado sugar to the crust for extra crunch – It is optional, but I like to add a sprinkle of sugar to the pie crust just before baking. This makes a big difference in flavor, especially since nothing here is overly sweet. It also adds crunch and caramelization.
Don’t skip the aromatics – We’ll toss the peach slices in aromatics like vanilla, fresh lemon juice, cinnamon, and a little bit of spiced rum to add amazing flavor and aroma. Because the peaches are so simple, I find this essential.
What Kind of Peaches To Use
Both yellow or white peaches work here, it really just depends on your preference. The flavor of each variety is quite different. I tend to like the flavor of white peaches more, but yellow is more classic
Feel free to use nectarines here as well.
How to Make It:
First, cut your peaches up into slices. I usually cut each peach into quarters, then cut the quarters into quarters:
Toss the peaches in brown sugar, spiced rum, vanilla, cinnamon, lemon juice, and flour, then pile them into the middle of a rolled out pie crust:
Pie Crust Tips
This is a great opportunity to use up pie crust scraps, since you can get away with the rustic application. That’s what I’ve done here, to show you how it can look a little gnarly during the process shots, but still bakes up beautifully.
Also feel free to use store-bought puff pastry, if you prefer. But I think a butter pie crust is better, and I have a great tutorial for making it: Butter Pie Crust Recipe.
Fold the edges up, brush the edges with heavy cream, and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Its crunchy, coarse texture gives the crust an extra special crunch. If you don’t have this sugar, you may use regular granulated sugar.
Bake the peach crostata in a 400F oven for 40 minutes, and it will come out looking like this:
No matter how gnarly it may look before it goes into the oven (which I showed you in the photos above), it always bakes up beautifully with a golden brown sparkling crust, and caramelized peaches set in their own juices.
How to Serve It
I highly recommend serving this crostata with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. It elevates the dessert tremendously, to the point where I personally consider it essential.
Leftovers reheat well, but you can also blend the peach tart into a milkshake, sort of like this Apple Pie Milkshake. Kids love it.
More Favorite Fruit-based Desserts:
The recipe is below, plus a full video to completely guide you through the cooking process. Enjoy!
Tips and FAQ
Keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Yes, it freezes great! Keep in an airtight container for up to 2 months. To thaw, leave in the fridge overnight, or add an extra 5 minutes to reheating time in the oven.
Place the peach tart on a baking sheet in a 300F oven for 10-15 minutes until warm and bubbling. If reheating straight from frozen, add an extra 5 minutes.
Did you enjoy the recipe? Please leave a 5-star rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. Or, follow me on Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest!
Peach Crostata
Ingredients
- 1 standard pie crust
- 2 lbs fresh peaches
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tbsp spiced rum
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1 tbsp heavy cream
- 2 tbsp turbinado sugar
- vanilla ice cream for serving (highly recommended)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Roll the pie crust out into a big circle, about 12 inches in diameter. Don’t worry if it’s not a perfect circle. Transfer the pie crust onto a rimmed baking sheet, then keep in the freezer or fridge while you work on the peaches.
- Cut the peaches into quarters, then cut the quarters into quarters, for a total of 16 slices per peach. Discard the pits.
- Toss the peaches in a big mixing bowl with the brown sugar, cinnamon, spiced rum, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and flour. Set this mixture aside.
- Dump the peaches, along with any of the liquid in the bowl, onto the center of the rolled out pie crust, leaving a 2 inch rim on all sides of the peaches.
- Distribute the peaches as necessary to form into a relatively flat layer (it’s okay to have the peaches piled up on top of each other).
- Gently fold the sides of the pie crust up and over the peaches, then brush the crust with heavy cream.
- Sprinkle turbinado sugar all over the heavy cream brushed pie crust.
- Bake the crostata for about 40 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the peaches are bubbling. Serve warm with a big scoop of ice cream, if desired. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
Post updated in August 2018. Originally published August 2013. This post contains an Amazon affiliate link.
71 Comments on “Peach Crostata”
This recipe is absolutely delicious! Easy to make and looks impressive ☺️ The crust is super flaky and buttery.
What if u dont have spiced rum
Delicious!! I used the recommended pie crust recipe and substituted brandy for spiced rum. Remarkable summer dessert!
Made this yesterday and boy, was it yummy! Replaced bourbon with same amount of apple sauce. Used an egg wash instead of the heavy cream. Used a store-bought pastry cuz I can’t for the life of me make a tender dough (Pillsbury makes the only one I can find in Canada.. In France, you can find in any supermarket all kinds of fresh pie dough rolled out then rolled up in parchment paper, ready to be unrolled and put into a pie plate or tarte pan.) This Peach Crostata was sooo good, but we only got 5 slices – served with a vanilla Greek yogurt. I will make this again and again.
I made this peach pie and it is just perfect. Has changed the way I am going to make pie as I always had problems rolling out the pastry. I also put a crumble topping on the peaches. The flavouring was so nice and made me just want more!,
Wonderful! The flavor of the peaches shine through. Refreshing, not heavy – perfect with vanilla ice cream!
I can’t wait to try these delicious recipes out..Yummy, yum yum!
You will only need half of the pie crust recipe provided.
My crostata is in the oven right now so I don’t know yet how it will come out but I find that there was a lot of juice in the bowl with the peaches, the excess juice is coming out from underneath the crust, hopefully it won’t make it soggy. I will drain the juice next time.
This is amazing!! And super simple. I definitely had way too much peach filling but am happy to cook them in another pie shell. Thanks for sharing!!
Loved this recipe! I will definitely make it for company. I did put the crust and peach filling in a pie pan and folded the rustic-looking crust over the top because I used very ripe (juicy) peaches and wanted to contain all the peach goodness. Easy and delicious recipe. Thank you!
Fabulous recipe! I used amaretto in my recipe since I didn’t have spiced rum and it worked wonderfully.
Can I use frozen peaches?
Do you put directly on cookie sheet or place parchment paper or Silpada pad under while croatada bakes?