Mango Crostata with Sweetened Cream Cheese
A Frame For Mangoes
If there’s a recipe I keep coming back to is this mango crostata with a thick spread of sweetened cream cheese on the bottom. It has the most buttery and flaky crust! I made my pie crust recipe from scratch to make this crostata, which is just a mango free-form pie. Our mornings are brighter and happier when we start with a sweet bite of this treat. I’m sure yours will be brighter as well.
It’s been a while since I used mangoes in any sweet treat. Last time was in this savory Drunken Noodles recipe that were a hit with all the sweet and sour notes of the mangoes. That got me craving to make something sweet with them. Mangoes are such a staple in our food culture. That made me think on the importance of adding more local fruits in my cooking. Vegetables, I have no problem with them. But eating fresh fruits in their original form, that’s another story! That’s why I need to stuff them in cakes and pies. Or in a mango crostata like I did here, lol!
I’m not kidding you when I tell you that I grew up with a Keitt mango tree in my backyard. My grandfather would pick the mangoes down from the tree when they were ready to eat, besides rescuing all the guys that fell unhopeful to the ground. He would then share them with the neighbors after we picked the ones with our favorite consistency; not too ripe nor too green. We like them with a bite! My mom and grandmother simply loved eating them just like that. I liked them very much too, but again, learned to like them better when they are playing a part in any kind of creation along with flour and sugar.
There are two local fruits that play a very important part in my childhood memories because there were trees in my backyard. Besides mangoes, the other is guava or “guayaba”. That's why I wanted to use both of them in my recipes for the Fundación Triple – S “Alimenta tu Cuerpo, Alimenta tu Alma” (nourish your body, nourish your soul) campaign in which I have been collaborating . If you haven’t read about it yet, it’s an effort from Triple – S company to promote a better quality of life by consuming locally harvested and made foods and taking care of your mind health as well.
You can read more details in the original post, where I shared these delicious and super easy Passionfruit Cheesecake Bars. I used the guavas in these Guava and Cream Cheese Ice Cream Sandwiches, and they were so good!
But for this time I wanted to use my ultimate favorite, mangoes! And these mango crostata recipe was just the perfect way to showcase them in it’s full glory.
What’s the difference between pie, crostata and galette
So that’s a question I get a lot. And the short answer is they are pretty much the same. For the three of them you need a flaky and buttery pie crust recipe that you can make from scratch. Then, if you want to make a pie you will transfer the dough to a pie pan, pour a filling and usually cover it with a second layer of dough or dough decorations.
Crostata and galette are a free-form pie, meaning that you don't transfer the dough to a pan but instead stretch it, fill it and close it in place before baking. Crostata is the Italian name for this free-form pie and galette is it’s French counterpart. The more you know!
How to make pie crust in advance
You can check my guide on how to make pie crust from scratch and all the pie tips and tricks of the trade to bake a delicious one in my comprehensive post on how to make a beautiful pie. For this mango crostata recipe you just need to follow my pie crust from scratch recipe and use one disk. If you have already read that post and feel confident with all the details you need to have in mind when making pie crust, just go directly to the pie crust recipe here.
You can leave the flattened disks on the fridge overnight. This is how I do it most of the time and it’s even better for the dough. The next day just let it out of the fridge for a few minutes until it becomes malleable and stretch it with a rolling pin. Spread the cream cheese, assemble the mango slices and freeze for 15 minutes. Finally bake and enjoy every single bite of the sweetest mango crostata you will ever taste!
Don’t forget to take a picture and tag me so I can share your creation with the world! Hope you love this one as much as I do!
Mango Crostata with Sweetened Cream Cheese
Ingredients
Crust
1 disk of this flaky pie crust recipe (Go directly to the pie crust recipe if you already have experience making pies)
Mango cream cheese filling
◯ Firm mangoes, sliced – about 2
◯ Raw sugar – ¼ cup for mangos + ¼ cup for cream cheese + 1 TBSP for sprinkling on top
◯ Cream cheese, at room temperature – 8 oz
◯ 1 egg, a bit of milk of choice and a few drops of vegetable oil of choice for the egg wash
Details
Yield:
an 8” crostata
Total time:
2.5 hours, including chill time for the dough
Prep time:
30 minutes
Equipment:
food processor, baking sheet, rolling pin, parchment paper, electric mixer
Steps
(This recipe is super easy and pretty quick. The steps seem long because I included lots of details for when you are working with the dough, which sometimes could be tricky.)
Take out the disk of dough so it softens a little bit before stretching it out. You just want it malleable enough.
Place 1/4 cup of the sugar in a medium bowl
Using a stand up mixer, an electric hand mixer or a hand whisk (yay for the arm work!) beat the cream cheese with the ¼ cup of sugar about 4 to 5 minutes, until the sugar is completely integrated throughout the cheese and the mixture looks light and fluffy. Set aside.
Place a parchment paper on a flat clean surface and some flour over it. Dust your hands and rolling pin as well. Place your dough disk on the paper and stretch it from the center out, until you have a circle of approximately 12” of circumference and the dough is about 1/8” thick. Remember to rotate the disk during the first stretches to prevent it form sticking to the surface. You may dust a bit more of flour beneath the dough if you feel it is sticking down. Stop rotating when the disk is larger and it wrinkles if you try to pull it up. Finish stretching until desired size.
Spread the cream cheese over the dough, leaving about 2” of the dough on the edges uncovered.
Take a slice of mango and dust it in the sugar bowl on both sides. Place it over the cream cheese. You may place it vertical to you to make that your starting point. If comparing to a clock, you’ll position the first slice at 12. Repeat with the remaining slices, placing one slice just below the first one, at 6, then at 3 and 9. From there, just fill the remaining space between the slices, forming like a flower shape. Gently close the dough edge and pinch it with itself as much as you can. Transfer parchment paper with the mango crostata to a baking sheet that fits on your freezer and place it there for about 20 minutes. Freezing will prevent shrinkage.
Preheat oven to 400°.
In a small bowl beat the egg and mix with the milk and oil.
Take frozen mango crostata out of the freezer and using a pastry brush brush all the exposed border of the dough with the egg wash. Sprinkle remaining sugar through the top.
Bake crostata for about 40 minutes, until the border feels sturdy and crisp and it looks golden yellow. It will probably loose a lot of juice but that’s ok since the water content of mangoes is pretty high. Still you’ll end up with a flaky crust and firm fruit inside. Serve with other fresh fruits or ice cream.
To reheat, just place a slice on a countertop oven and heat to 350°. Heat for a couple of minutes and then remove from oven and let it cool down so the crust is crusty again.
