A “galette” in this context is a rustic French tart, with either sweet or savory filling. With such plastic concept you can fill a galette with just about anything you please. This variation is with sweet cherries and apples, but your favorite apple or other fruit pie filling would work just as well, as long as the filling is not too liquid.
This galette is great when served warm, or at room temperature. You can pop it into the oven just as you sit down to dinner, and then serve your guests warm slices of galette for desert, topped with a good vanilla ice cream, or unsweetened whipped cream mixed with creme fraiche.
Makes: The equivalent of a 9-inch conventional single-crust pie
Time: About 60-70 minutes, including time for chilling the crust before rolling it out.
Ingredients & process
For the tart crust
- 1.25 cups all-purpose flour
- .25 cups crushed toasted almonds*
- 10 tablesppons of frozen unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons of frozen vegetable shortening
- .75 teaspoons salt
- About .5 cup ice water
- Add all ingredients into a food processor and spin until they form crumbly, course balls of dough
- Dump the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and press the dough by hand into a roughly flat circle about 7-8 inches in diameter
- Wrap the dough in plastic and put it in the freezer for 10 minutes to cool the dough before rolling
- (Make the pie filling while you wait for the dough to cool)
- After cooling, roll the dough out to about 10-11 inches in diameter
- Put the dough into the refrigerator if you are not assembling the tart immediately
For the filling
- 2.5 cups of sweet cherries, pitted
- 2 cups of Granny Smith or pie apples, chopped into .5 inch cubes
- 2 teaspoons of lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons of salted butter, melted
- 1 ounce of cognac
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- .25 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons of crusted toasted almonds
- 2 tablespoons of crusted graham crackers
- 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar (sold under the brand “Sugar in the Raw”), or other coarse-grained baking sugar for topping before baking
Final assembly and baking
- Pre-heat your oven to 425°F
- Cut a sheet of baking parchment paper about a foot square
- Place the parchment sheet on a cookie sheet and spray it lightly with oil (or rub it lightly with oil)
- Place the tart crust on the parchment paper
- Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of crushed almonds and 2 tablespoons of crushed graham crackers across the center of the tart crust
- Using a slotted spoon, spoon the filling onto the center area of the pie crust, leaving a clear 2-3 inches of crust around the edges for folding. Leave any left-over filling liquid behind, to avoid a soggy tart.
- Fold the edges of the tart to partially enclose the filling. Galettes are informal in design, and your folding does not need to be very precise.
- Sprinkle the tart with 2 tablespoons of course sugar grains to give it a nice finish
- Bake at 425°F for about 30 minutes, or until the tart crust is a golden brown.
- Let the tart cool for about 10-15 minutes, and it should slide easily off the parchment paper onto a flat tart plate or cake dish
If you are not baking the assembled tart right away, put it into the refrigerator or freezer to keep the crust very cold until immediately before baking.
*For crushed toasted almonds
Buy a bag of slivered almonds, and spread them out on a baking sheet. Toast them at 400°F for about 5-7 minutes, watching carefully to pull them out quickly when they develop a nice golden-brown color. Quickly dump the hot almonds into a food processor and spin them briefly, so that they form a course gritty powder.
Patrick Lynch 