Crostata Frangipane agli Amaretti e Albicocche (Italian Amaretti and Apricot Frangipane Tart) A frangipane crostata is two things baked together: a crisp pasta frolla shell and an almond cream that behaves like a cake batter. This one carries crushed amaretti through the cream and fresh apricot halves set into it, so the bitter almond perfume of the biscuit meets the acidity of the fruit in every slice. It is a tart for the weeks when apricots are ripe enough to eat raw, and

Crostata alla Nutella e Nocciole del Piemonte (Italian Piedmont Hazelnut Nutella Crostata) This is the hazelnut tart of the Langhe hills: a short, sandy pasta frolla enriched with hazelnut flour, filled with hazelnut and cocoa spreadable cream loosened into a pipeable custard, and closed with a lattice. It is easy to make badly. The filling is nearly half fat, and that fat is the whole technical problem of the recipe. Yield: one 9 inch (23 cm) tart, 10 slices. Prep: 35 minute

Crostata di Prugne, the Italian prune tart on pasta frolla with ripe summer plums Crostata di Prugne is the tart Italian households bake in the two or three weeks when the plum tree gives more fruit than anyone can eat fresh. A shell of pasta frolla, ripe plums cut and laid tight, a lattice over the top, and nothing else asked of it. The whole difficulty of the dish sits in one place: fresh fruit releases juice in the oven, and that juice wants to soak the pastry underneath i