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”
I made this for tonight’s dessert after a poached salmon and lettuce wedge dinner! Our Peach Crostada was fabulous! What a simple and successful recipe!!
Glad to hear this, Steve! Sounds like wonderful eating!
Make sure to transfer to cookie sheet before putting cream and sugar on edges.. I left on my pastry sheet to do and then had.a difficult time transferring to cookie sheet as the dough was wet!
Just made this and it was heavenly! Mixed in a nectarine too since it was nearing overripe. Can see how this would translate to other fruits very easily, and am eyeing the blueberries in my fridge right now…
This very quickly came together before dinner and was done when we were ready for dessert. The pie crust is a great recipe too, I halved it since my food processor is on the small side but am wishing I had another crust in the fridge right now to play with!
This sounds perfect! Have you used frozen peaches? Asking for a friend 😘
I have made this several times. I find the brown sugar a bit too much and cloying and have cut it to an eighth of a cup and then added a teaspoon of white sugar. I have tried it with rum (didn’t have spiced rum) and with grand marnier which also works with fruit. And I have thrown a handful of raspberries in as well. The raspberry flavor is pretty loud but it is tasty.
Didn’t have the course sugar and will try to acquire some in the future as regular sugar isn’t quite right on the crust.
Great recipe.
Artemesia
Good comment Artemesia, thanks. I want to make this crostata with raspberry ice cream alongside and glad to hear the flavors worked, even if in ALL CAPS. Looking forward to Saturday’s bake even more.
Absolutely delicious. Big crowd pleaser! Left out the spiced rum.
Do you blanch and peel the peaches first or leave skins on for baking?
I peeled the peaches — my peaches have fuzzy skins, I just don’t think they are good left on. We do leave apple skins and potato skins on when baking with those — but not peach skins.
I’ve been waiting for my 1/2 bushel of peaches to ripen and went to the grocery store only to discover some ripe peaches on sale called Peach Pie Heirloom peaches. at first I thought I’d make a pie but then remembered this recipe. Better choice. Fast, easy recipe and a delicious way to enjoy peaches…other than eating them raw fresh off the tree. We all really enjoy this recipe.
Ohhhh I tried those too! First time for me. What did you think of them? I don’t know what you paid for yours, but I honestly thought they weren’t worth the price. They were good yes, but I’ve had “regular peaches” that were just as good too. Anyway, glad you enjoyed the crostata! And enjoy those fresh peaches of yours, I bet they’re amazing!
With it being apple season right now, I wondered if I could just substitute the peaches for apples
Hi Loreta, absolutely! That would be delicious.
I’ve made this tart and the fig almond tart and they are very tasties..
Thanks
That’s really wonderful to hear!!
My family loved! this recipe and peaches are plenty-ful right now. I’m glad I watched your video because I couldn’t figure out how you got all that filling in – but it cooked down nicely. Thanks 🙂
Hi Robin, so happy to hear your family enjoyed this recipe! And also glad that the video helped you!!! Happy cooking =)
Thank you for the inspiration and great recipe! I happened to have some pie dough in the freezer from my last batch, and made this delicious recipe. However I have to confess I used regular sugar instead of turbinado sugar for the crust! What is it and where do you find it?
Oh and yes I made a mess with the peach juice when assembling it, but once baked it thickened nicely an you couldn’t tell.
Hi Lauren, turbinado sugar is a raw sugar, it is brown in color and has a coarse, crunchy texture, kind of like a crunchy sea salt. You should be able to find it in any grocery store. It makes the crust extra awesome! Glad you enjoyed this recipe!
I am making another one right now and because I don’t have the crunchy sugar I went to my cake decorating sugars and used gold decorative sugar —
Even though we’ve had a terrible year for peaches, I managed to find a couple pounds of ripe white flesh peaches. They’re not as sweet as freestone but they were delicious in this recipe. One of your other followers asked how to store leftovers. What are leftovers?
The family really enjoyed the Crostata.
When there’s only three people eating, it would have been obscene to eat that whole thing at once!
Haha, yes I can see how it would be a bit much for three people! I admit though that the first time I made this, I ate the leftovers for breakfast the next morning.
Hi Craig, glad to hear you and your family enjoyed this crostata! The white flesh ones are my absolute favorite. And I giggled at the leftovers comment =)
I just baked this crostata and turned out great. I wanted to know, what is the best way to store any leftovers?
Hi Gloria, glad to hear the crostata turned out well! If you plan to eat it in the next couple days, store it in the fridge and reheat in the oven before eating. Or, you can toss it in the freezer for a month or two.
How do I reheat it in the oven?
Oh… Joanne, Joanne, Joanne! Sally [my sis] *really* loves peaches and I thought this would be a wonderful dish to feed her addiction. Little did I know that this dish would lead ME to become a peach afficionado!! I followed your recipe to the letter with one [major? minor?] alteration: I baked it on my baking stone… The one I use for pizza! Since I haven’t made this on a rimmed cookie sheet, I don’t know how different it might be. But I’m willing to say that the stone outweighs the pan!
…more shall be revealed…
Hi John, how wonderful that you both loved this dessert so much! And that’s a really cool idea to bake it on the baking stone, I love that. I actually don’t have one but am getting closer and closer to buying one.
Get one… It’ll change your life!
Hi Joanne,
Can I mix the peaches with the ingredients 5 hours ahead of time? Or will the peaches turn soft? I’m having a party so I wanted to get everything done ahead of time. Please advise.
Thanks.
Hi Lucy, 5 hours ahead should be fine. There might be some extra juices pulled out of the fruit from the long maceration, but the flour should thicken it up during the baking process. Enjoy and have a nice party!