diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/build_systems/autotools.py b/lib/spack/spack/build_systems/autotools.py
index 7be0b1364546159354175785001f58eac3c4cf4b..dea4ae002f0e58ffbabd95203531ff1410150d9e 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/build_systems/autotools.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/build_systems/autotools.py
@@ -45,6 +45,9 @@ class AutotoolsPackage(PackageBase):
 
     They all have sensible defaults and for many packages the only thing
     necessary will be to override `configure_args`
+
+    Additionally, you may specify make targets for build and install
+    phases by overriding `build_targets` and `install_targets`
     """
     phases = ['autoreconf', 'configure', 'build', 'install']
     # To be used in UI queries that require to know which
@@ -52,6 +55,9 @@ class AutotoolsPackage(PackageBase):
     build_system_class = 'AutotoolsPackage'
     patch_config_guess = True
 
+    build_targets = []
+    install_targets = ['install']
+
     def do_patch_config_guess(self):
         """Some packages ship with an older config.guess and need to have
         this updated when installed on a newer architecture."""
@@ -152,12 +158,12 @@ def configure(self, spec, prefix):
         inspect.getmodule(self).configure(*options)
 
     def build(self, spec, prefix):
-        """The usual `make` after configure"""
-        inspect.getmodule(self).make()
+        """Make the build targets"""
+        inspect.getmodule(self).make(*self.build_targets)
 
     def install(self, spec, prefix):
-        """...and the final `make install` after configure"""
-        inspect.getmodule(self).make('install')
+        """Make the install targets"""
+        inspect.getmodule(self).make(*self.install_targets)
 
     @PackageBase.sanity_check('build')
     @PackageBase.on_package_attributes(run_tests=True)
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/blitz/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/blitz/package.py
index 16ad3bc2ab7ba03415e2a693d68c071a3175a159..d6fd31d637113fa613c957c8e4b52cb36ef4c5c2 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/blitz/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/blitz/package.py
@@ -31,3 +31,9 @@ class Blitz(AutotoolsPackage):
     url = "https://github.com/blitzpp/blitz/tarball/1.0.0"
 
     version('1.0.0', '9f040b9827fe22228a892603671a77af')
+
+    build_targets = ['lib']
+
+    def check(self):
+        make('check-testsuite')
+        make('check-examples')