Torta della Nonna (Italian Grandma's Cake Recipe)

Make the Pasta Frolla

1. Place the flour on a work surface and make a hole in the center. Pour the sugar, lemon zest (optional), salt and eggs at room temperature.
2. Mix then add the cold butter. Knead quickly until the dough is homogeneous and non-sticky.
3. Form a loaf, cover it with cling film and let it cool in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Make Crema Pasticcera

1. In a saucepan mix the egg yolks with the sugar, using a wooden spoon. Then add the sifted flour a little bit at a time.
2. Keep stirring for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is blended. Then set aside.
3. Heat the milk and bring it almost to a boil. Then remove it from the heat and start pouring slowly into the mixture of sugar, eggs and flour.
4. It's very important to mix constantly. Put on low heat and cook, always stirring, for another 3-4 minutes.
5. When the cream is well thickened, immediately pour it into a bowl. Cover the cream with cling film and let it cool in the fridge. To shorten the cooling time, you can place the bowl with the cream into another bowl full of ice.

Make Torta della Nonna

1. Prepare a round baking pan covered with baking paper. For these doses we used a tart pan of about 22 cm ( 9 inch). Let's remove the shortcrust pastry loaf from the refrigerator and divide it into two parts. One part a little larger than the other (about ⅔ - ⅓ ).
2. Flour a pastry board and roll out the larger piece of dough with a rolling pin until it is about 4 mm (⅙ inch) thick. Store the smaller dough wrapped in plastic wrap in the refrigerator.
3. Arrange the rolled out shortcrust pastry on the cake pan.
4. With a knife, or by pressing the edge of the cake pan with a rolling pin, remove the excess dough. This is the base of your custard tart.
5. Prick the bottom with a fork so it does not puff up during baking.
6. Now take the pastry cream set aside and mix it to make it creamy all over again.
7. Pour it into the pastry case. Finally level it with a spoon to spread it evenly.
8. Retrieve the remaining shortcrust pastry from the refrigerator. Roll it out with a rolling pin to create another disc of pastry of the same thickness. Then place it on top of the custard.
9. As before, discard the excess pastry and use your fingers to seal the edges of the tart. Then gently prick the surface with a fork, again to keep it from puffing up during baking.

Bake

1. Sprinkle the entire surface of the tart with the pine nuts.
2. Bake in a static oven at 170°C (338°F) for about 45 minutes, until the pine nuts are well toasted.
3. Once finished baking, let the tart cool. Top with plenty of powdered sugar before serving.