Growing up, we rarely had dessert. My mother, a good cook, yearned for a salty snack and a drink before dinner and needed nothing afterward. Since she did the cooking, she set the menus. Things were different at my grandparents’ house on Lambert’s Cove – that’s where we spent the best weeks of every summer. Perhaps it was because meals were treated as occasions during our stay. Or, more probably, it was in deference to my grandmother who was indifferent to foods that weren’t sweet. Whatever the reason, there was always something sugary offered after dinner. I mostly didn’t care – that is, unless the last course was pie.
Aside from shortbread in December, my family didn’t bake, so we bought our pies. My grandfather was partial to lemon meringue from the old Humphreys Bakery in West Tisbury. I liked blueberry, which we got from Morning Glory Farm in Edgartown. In the years since, I have continued to buy pies from local cooks – Olivia Pattison’s honey pie was a favorite – but I am always thrilled when a friend bakes. That’s what Claudia Fleming did one August.
It was scorching when she and her husband, chef Gerry Hayden, visited us on the Island, so we adopted a Spanish approach to dining, eating after 10 p.m. As I remember it, Claudia would make dough in the morning. We’d spend the day near the water, then as the sun sank, while I messed with dinner, she’d roll pastry and macerate fruit, pulling dessert from the oven an hour before we sat down. I can still picture her, deft and swift, prepping and baking each night. It seemed remarkable to me.
I got to know Claudia in 1990. After practicing law, I knew I wanted to take my life in another direction, so I enrolled in the French Culinary Institute. I met Claudia at my first restaurant job, working in “garde manger” at the newly opened Tribeca Grill in New York. She was the assistant pastry chef and, like me, a bit older than most of the crew. She’d spent her early twenties working in restaurants, but she had been in the “front of the house,” supporting a career in dance. By the time that we connected, she’d left behind her aspirations of the stage and committed to cooking.
Claudia and I stayed in touch after I left Tribeca to run the pasta station at Union Square Café and she headed to France to “stage.” Four years later we wound up together again, working for famed chef Tom Colicchio on the opening team at Gramercy Tavern. I was on the “line” and pregnant so didn’t last long, but Claudia was the pastry chef and stayed. That’s where she established her culinary voice – and when the James Beard Foundation named her America’s best pastry chef.
Claudia and Gerry’s visit to Martha’s Vineyard was years later. We’d changed. After my daughter was born, I took a job as an editor at Saveur magazine. That led my old boss Tom Colicchio to hire me to help him write his first cookbook, then another. Collaborating with Tom, and then other chefs, shaping their knowledge for the page (while learning) was very satisfying, and so I continued to do book work. Claudia and Gerry remained in the restaurant world but wound up leaving the city. They moved to Long Island where they opened the North Fork Table & Inn, a casual dining room with serious food (and a few beds upstairs). Their hard work and tremendous talent turned that place into a jewel. Then Gerry got ALS. By the summer they stayed with us, he was in a wheelchair.
Looking back, I believe Claudia baked as a gift to us, but also because she needed to busy her practiced hands. Our holiday together made a strong impression on me. I thought about it after Gerry died, and as I helped Claudia turn her recipes into a book: Delectable: Sweet & Savory Baking (Random House, 2022). I made a special point of probing my memories as we tested pies. In the end, I recognized that while I will never match her mastery, I had learned how to turn out a tasty crust.
Putting what I gleaned together, I’ll begin by saying that Claudia distinguishes between pies and tarts. Their crusts (something she is very picky about) are distinct. While both types of dough start off with the same components (flour combined with fat), the goals are different. American pies – single- or double-crusted filled pastries – have flaky crusts, in this harkening back to English baking traditions. Tarts, on the other hand, have roots in France and Italy and boast single crusts that crumble. Tart doughs, known as short crust pastries (pâte brisée and pâte sucrée in French gastronomy), generally have higher ratios of flour to fat.
Whether she wants flaky or crumbly crust, Claudia usually uses butter (rather than lard or shortening) and keeps it cold. She dices it, chills it, then massages it into the dry ingredients with her fingers. The aim is to evenly coat tiny bits of fat with flour. Using your hands gives you better control, but a food processor will also work.
A pie baker has two goals at this stage: to keep his or her butter from melting and fully integrating with the flour, and to minimize gluten development. Gluten is a protein in wheat flour that moves from flexible to rubbery when “activated.” An important binder in crust, when it is overworked, gluten makes baked goods chewy – think bread. To counteract this, Claudia limits the amount she handles doughs and rests hers repeatedly, when the butter and flour are combined, then again after she rolls out her pastry.
Another secret to great crust – pie or tart – is choosing the right pan. Tarts are ideally baked in a straight-sided metal tin with a removable bottom. Metal conducts heat quickly, which makes for a crisp crust, and once pulled from the oven, it cools fast, which limits steaming. Short crust pastry is sturdier than pie dough and shrinks little during baking. Tarts maintain their structure both in the oven and once cooled and the pan’s sides are removed.
Because the dough is softer and more prone to shrinkage during baking, an angled-edged tin is the best choice for pies. The shape provides support during cooking and keeps contraction to a minimum. Also, the incline makes it easy to serve pie – most tidily sliced in the dish it is cooked in. Claudia’s favorite pan is a slope-sided metal tin she inherited from her mother. A Pyrex glass dish is another fine choice, as it heats and cools almost as quickly. Though ceramic pans look pretty, they are best reserved for crumbles and cobblers.
As you might expect, Claudia’s repertoire goes beyond basics. At times she adds eggs to dough for richness, or ground nuts for flavor, or swaps in an additional fat, such as cream cheese, for a little tang. And because she loves textural variety, she often finishes pastries with a crumbly topping. Focusing on fillings, at Gramercy she offered a tart loaded with white chocolate–espresso cream, another filled with pine nuts in a rosemary-infused caramel, and a stunner made with a French triple-crème cheese custard, always adding just enough sweetness to bring out other flavors. She does the same at home, though there she usually reaches for fruit – berries, peaches, then plums and apples (either one at a time or in a combination) – to fill her crusts.
During our week together, peaches starred one night, blueberries another. Pie or tart? Leaning into our informal vibe, Claudia decided to forgo pans and make crostatas. She used her pie dough recipe, rolling it out on parchment paper then re-chilling it. She’d set the oven, then macerate the fruit using her go-to ratio: ten grams of sugar for every one hundred grams of fruit (always measured by weight; adjusted if the fruit is especially tart or sweet), plus a little cornstarch. When the oven was ready, she’d mound the filling on the dough, fold the sides up, and sprinkle them with crystallized sugar. Cooked on a metal sheet pan, the crostata would brown and crisp. She’d transfer it to a rack to cool, and an hour later we’d have dessert. It was a formula for wonderful summer evenings and an approach I now use on repeat all year round.
A seasonal resident of the Island, Catherine Young has collaborated on many award-winning cookbooks including Delectable: Sweet & Savory Baking (Random House, 2022) with Claudia Fleming; The Beetlebung Farm Cookbook (Little, Brown and Company, 2015) with Chris Fischer; Salt to Taste: The Key to Confident, Delicious Cooking (Rodale Books, 2009) with Marco Canora; The Anatomy of a Dish (Artisan, 2002) with Diane Forley; and Think Like a Chef (Clarkson Potter, 2000) and Craft of Cooking (Clarkson Potter, 2003), both with Tom Colicchio. She was an editor at Saveur magazine and cooked at leading restaurants including Gramercy Tavern, Lespinasse, Union Square Café, and Tribeca Grill.
Claudia’s Crostata Dough
This is the same dough Claudia uses for pies, but because she likes her crostatas a little generous, she makes about a third more than she would for a 9-inch crust. You can make this by hand or in the food processor. Either way, cut the butter into slightly different sizes to create extra flakiness in the finished crust.
Makes a single 10-inch crust
• 10 tablespoons (142 grams) butter – chilled if working by hand, frozen if using a food processor
• 1½ cups (210 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon (12 grams) sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Morton’s kosher salt (or 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal, which is cut differently and less salty)
1. Cut half the butter into a 1/2-inch dice and the remaining butter into a 1-inch dice, then chill it. (Freeze the butter if using a food processor.)
2. Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl and mix well. Working quickly, massage the diced butter with the flour mixture, pinching butter bits between your fingers, coating each with flour. Work just until all the butter has been pinched and flattened. Sprinkle the dough with a 1/4 cup of ice water. Mix the water into the dough with a fork, adding enough additional ice water so the dough is no longer crumbly and can be gathered together readily. (If using a food processor, combine the frozen butter with the flour mixture in the machine then pulse just until the biggest pieces of butter are no larger than a pea. Add a ¼ cup of water and pulse until it is evenly distributed, adding a little more as necessary.)
3. Gather the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic, flatten it into a disc, then refrigerate it until it is firm, at least 1 hour and up to 2 days (or freeze it for up to a month).
Brown Butter Pecan Crumble
You only need a cup of this topping for the peach crostata recipe, but I suggest making the whole batch. Freeze the rest and you’ll be ready to go when you want to make a fruit crumble. This topping is also a good way to jazz up ice cream or yogurt – if that’s your plan, just bake what you need at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until it is toasted, about 25 minutes.
Makes about 4 cups
• 10 tablespoons (142 grams) butter
• A scant 1 cup (about 125 grams) pecans*
• ½ cup (110 grams) light brown sugar
• ¼ cup (50 grams) sugar
• ¾ cup (100 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (100 grams) rolled oats
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom (optional)
• Pinch of Morton’s kosher salt (or a 1/4 teaspoon Diamond Crystal)
1. Put the butter in a skillet and melt over low heat, then slowly brown it, about 15 minutes. Set the butter aside to cool. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Roast the chopped pecans in the oven until they smell toasty, about 15 minutes. Roughly chop about ¾ of the nuts and put them in a mixing bowl. Finely chop the remaining pecans and set them aside for the crostata filling.
3. Add the brown and white sugars, flour, oats, cardamom (if using), and salt to the mixing bowl. Stir to combine, then use a fork to mix as you drizzle in the browned butter. Use immediately or store in a sealed plastic bag in the freezer.
*This is enough nuts for both the crumble and the crostata filling. If you are simply making the crumble, toast ¾ cup of nuts.
Peach Crostata with Brown Butter Pecan Crumble
Think of this recipe as a template, using whatever fruit is in season and sweetening it with about 10 grams of sugar for every 100 grams of fruit and thickening the juice with 1½ teaspoons of cornstarch. Here I’ve added a crumble, inspired by a recipe of Claudia Fleming’s. I reinforced its flavor by dusting ground pecans on the dough before spooning on the filling – this also helps keep the bottom crust crisp.
Makes a 10-inch crostata
For the crust:
• 1 recipe Claudia’s Crostata Dough
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
For the crumble:
• 1 cup Brown Butter Pecan Crumble
For the filling:
• 4 medium (about 600 grams) peaches, halved, pitted, and thickly sliced
• About ¼ cup (about 60 grams) sugar
• About 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1½ teaspoons cornstarch
• Scant ¼ cup toasted pecans, finely chopped
• About 1½ teaspoons crystallized sugar (such as demerara, Sugar in the Raw, or another type of turbinado)
1. For the crust, roll the dough out on a piece of parchment into a round, about 13 inches across. Put the parchment on a baking sheet and chill for at least 15 minutes.
2. Heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Make the filling by combining the peaches, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and cornstarch in a bowl. Stir to mix, then set aside for about 5 minutes.
3. Take the dough out of the refrigerator, trim it into an even circle, and brush a 2-inch border around the circumference with a beaten egg. Sprinkle the chopped pecans on the dough, stopping short of the border, then spoon the peaches (and their juices) on top. Form the crostata’s sides by lifting the dough one section at a time up and around the filling, pinching, folding, and pleating the dough to form an edge.
4. Spoon the crumble over the exposed fruit in the center of the crostata. Brush the exposed pastry with the remaining egg, then sprinkle the crust with crystallized sugar.
5. Bake the crostata on the baking sheet until the crust begins to color, about 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and continue cooking until the crust is nicely browned and the filling is bubbling, about 35 minutes more. Remove the crostata from the oven and transfer it to a wire rack to cool. Slice and serve with ice cream or whipped cream if desired.
Blueberry Crostata
When I use blueberries, I skip the crumble topping. A spoonful of Yogurt Whipped Cream goes very nicely.
Makes a 10-inch crostata
For the crust:
• 1 recipe Claudia’s Crostata Dough
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
For the filling:
• 3½ cups (about 550 grams) blueberries
• About 3½ tablespoons (about 55 grams) sugar
• Minced zest of 1 lemon
• 1½ teaspoons cornstarch
• About 1½ teaspoons crystallized sugar (such as turbinado, demerara, or Sugar in the Raw)
1. For the crust, roll the dough and chill it, as per the Peach Crostata with Brown Butter Pecan Crumble recipe.
2. Heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. Make the filling by combining the blueberries, sugar, lemon zest, and cornstarch in a bowl. Stir to mix, then set aside for about 5 minutes.
4. Trim and then egg-wash the perimeter of the chilled dough (see Peach Crostata recipe for more detailed instructions). Spoon the blueberries onto the dough, stopping short of the border. Form the crostata’s sides, lifting the dough a section at a time around the filling and pleating the dough to form an edge.
5. Brush the exposed pastry with egg, then sprinkle the crust with crystallized sugar.
6. Bake the crostata on the baking sheet until the crust begins to color, about 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and continue cooking until the crust is nicely browned and the filling is bubbling, about 35 minutes more. Remove the crostata from the oven and transfer it to a wire rack to cool. Slice and serve with Yogurt Whipped Cream (recipe below), crème fraiche, or ice cream if desired.
Yogurt Whipped Cream
Claudia adds vanilla and a little confectioner’s sugar to the cream when she whips it. I prefer to lean into the tang of the yogurt. Note: you can substitute plain yogurt, drained overnight, for the Greek yogurt.
Makes about 3 cups
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup Greek-style yogurt
Whip the cream in a mixer or by hand until it holds soft peaks. Fold in the yogurt and serve.
Olivia’s Honey Pie
For many years Olivia Pattison sold wonderful breads and yummy baked goods under the name Cinnamon Starship at the West Tisbury Farmers’ Market and at local restaurants and farm stands. Sadly for us, she moved away to Beckett, Massachusetts, where she now owns and operates The Neon Newt. (Definitely go if you are nearby!) Happily, though, her honey pie is easy to make. The crust, which tastes like shortbread, is a particularly nice surprise. It’s made with melted butter (rather than cold), and in an American simplification of northern European technique, you simply mix the ingredients together and pat them into place. Claudia might consider this a tart, but I’ll say that whatever you call it, honey pie is delicious.
Makes a 9-inch pie
For the crust:
• ½ cup (113 grams) butter
• 1 1/4 cups (150 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup (50 grams) sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon Morton’s kosher salt (or a 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal)
For the filling:
• 3/4 cup whole raw almonds
• 2/3 cup raw honey (Olivia suggests a flavorful variety; she prefers buckwheat, wildflower, or knotweed honey)
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup (57 grams) butter
• 1/4 teaspoon Morton’s kosher salt (or a 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
1. To start the crust, heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Melt the butter in a small skillet over low heat then allow it to cool.
2. In a large bowl, mix the flour with the sugar and salt. Stir in the melted butter, forming a soft dough. Gather the dough into a ball and then press it into a 9-inch tart pan working out from the middle and moving up the sides of the pan.
3. Prebake the crust until it is set and golden, about 20 minutes, then set it aside to cool.
4. To make the filling, toast the almonds in a skillet in the oven until fragrant, about 12 minutes. Allow them to cool, then roughly chop them and arrange them in a single even layer in the crust.
5. Beat the eggs in a small bowl and reserve them.
6. Combine the honey and butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan deep enough so that the honey can foam without overflowing. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Cook until the honey darkens and reduces a little, about 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and quickly whisk in the salt and cream. When the cream is fully incorporated, whisk in the eggs.
7. Pour the honey-caramel over the chopped almonds. Bake until the filling is set and puffed at the edges but still a little wobbly in the center, about 15 minutes. Cool completely then serve.
This article appears in July 2026.