August Roundup

Oh no! Summer is almost over! This was the perfect dessert for this time of year. Thank you Chaya for the challenge. I love the variety this month. Thanks to everyone who participated.

Clean Out the Fridge Galette: Take 2

I tried posting this last week, but (as usual), my awesome computer crashed. So here's try number two.

Disclaimer: I am not a good baker. It's entirely too precise for me. I joined this blog so that I would be forced to try and bake something. Color me suprised when the recipe I found called for 1/2 a pie crust recipe, but it was okay to used store-bought crust! Score!

I admired all the delicious galettes over the past month, and in my laziness checked the status of our fridge. Pie crust: check! Fruit? bananas (YUCK!) and nectarines... Nectarines could work. And with the handy help of Google, I searched for "nectarine+galette" and came up with The Kitchen Illiterate's End of Summer Nectarine Galette. With a blog name like that, I knew this was my recipe!

1/2 pie crust recipe (I used a Wegmans crust)

3 ripe nectarines, pitted and sliced

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix fruit, sugar, and spices together. Roll pie crust out on cookie sheet. Pile fruit into the middle of crust (fanning optional, I opted not to). Fold crust over fruit in a beautiful manner of your choosing (mine is kind of pleated). Egg wash or sugar sprinkle optional (I opted for the sugar). Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

A fabulously easy recipe! DELICIOUS. Next time, I do think I will mix the ginger with the sugar and then add to the fruit, because there were some extra gingery pieces that I wasn't crazy about... Otherwise, awesome! I can't wait to try more galettes, I *almost* liked it better than pie...

Posted by -Erin

Galette - with Cherries, Vodka and Ice Cream

Posted by - Dorrie

As one of the original members of Have the Cake, I should have been baking every month... But alas, I have two young children and not a lot of time for anything other than changing diapers, nursing, potty training, etc.

But, the hot winds of August brought Rena to Colorado and with the extra hands in the house I was able to whip up a Cherry Galette to meet this month's challenge.

Since I have the lovely, but evil, ice cream maker we decided to first make some ice cream to accompany the galette. We were inspired by Katie's post, with a delicious sounding roasted cinnamon ice cream that she made to go with her dark chocolate and blueberry galette. We decided upon a recipe for Cinnamon Brown Sugar ice cream that would go nicely with the galette.

The ice cream is simple: 1 cup whole milk, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp vanilla and 2 cups of cream. Mix until the sugar is dissolved and put in the ice cream maker. Anna, who was having a "I'm staying in my Cookie Monster pajamas all day" day, helped:

Cookie Monster Stirs the Ice Cream

(All photos, by the way, are courtesy of Rena, who has a much nicer camera that I do.)

Next, I made my standard pie crust, 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup unsalted butter, 1 tsp salt, and when it came time to add the water, I used a new trick that I learned from my mother, and added Vodka to the crust. According to my mother this makes the crust easier to roll out and bakes out nicely. Unfortunately, I had not paid attention to my mother when she was giving me these instructions (a lifelong problem, really) and I thought she meant replace all the water with Vodka... Turns out she meant only about 3 Tablespoons of Vodka should go in, with the water filling in the remainder until the crust comes together. Oh well! It was lovely crust anyway...

While we waited for the crust to cool in the refrigerator, Anna took a ride on her new scooter:

Of course the scooter is pink...

And I worked on finding Henry's ticklish parts. Oh look! I think I found a spot!

It's right there under his chin!

I have a lot of pie cherries from the tree in my parents' front yard, so while the pie crust cooled, the pie cherries sat and soaked up some sugar and almond extract:

Pie Cherries

Pie cherries, if you've never had them, are not sweet cherries that you can just pop in your mouth. They are very sour by nature, but when mixed with enough sugar and whatever else you want to add (my mother always adds almond extract) they make lovely pie filling.

Once the pie crust had cooled enough I rolled out the dough and added the cherries, sprinkled the crust with sugar and baked it at 400 for 45 minutes. Needless to say, although Rena said it several times anyway, "It's rustic". I just wasn't capable of making this one pretty...

Finished Galette

But that's okay, because with a scoop (or two) of the Cinnamon Brown Sugar ice cream, it was a dream of a galette.

Cherry Galette and Cinnamon Brown Sugar Ice Cream

I'm pretty sure all that Vodka cooked out of the crust, but who cares if it didn't?

Lemon Galette

Although I have been up to my elbows in peaches and apples, I didn't want to go that route with my galette.  I wanted to post something different than what others have done (although all those peach galettes look yummy!)

I found the recipe for Lemon Galette on Cooking.com. The recipe there was reprinted by permission of Weldon Owen and had all rights reserved. I'm not about to infringe on someone's copyright so be sure to visit the link for this amazing recipe!

Posted by - Vivian  http://letstrythese.blogspot.com/

Colorado Peach Galette

Posted by - Ellebee

Well, it took Rena coming to Colorado to get my butt back into baking mode. Every year, my husband and I order two cases of Colorado western slope peaches, the most delicious peaches in the world, from our local Rotary club. Some we freeze, some we turn into jelly, and I always make a few peach pies right away. This year's peach pick-up corresponded with Rena's visit, so she got to taste these wonderful peaches and prompted me to use some for a delicious galette.

I used a really simple pie crust recipe - 1 stick of butter, 1 cup of flour, and enough cold water to stick it all together.


Piper was a champ and ate a peachy snack while we baked.
We couldn't wait for dessert to dig into the finished galette. We tasted it the afternoon it came out of the oven and finished it off after a dinner that night.

Peach Galette

Posted by - Michele at Alwayzbakin

Yes, it is true. That this isn't the prettiest galette ever made. But while it is not pretty, it is MOST delicious!!!! Thank you, Chaya, for choosing this recipe. Great pick!

I made galette one other time, using Dorie's recipe for Summer Fruit Galette from the Baking: From My Home to Yours cookbook. I really loved the recipe and decided that I would use that crust again and again.

So for my galette for Have the Cake, I made Dorie's Good For Almost Everything Pie Dough for a 9-inch single crust. I filled the galette with peach pie filling and I topped it off with a crumb topping.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! It was really really good. The only thing it was missing was some vanilla ice cream.

Good For Almost Everything Pie Dough - Dorie Greenspan

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) very cold (frozen is fine) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces
2 1/2 tablespoons very cold (frozen is even better) vegetable shortening, cut into 2 pieces
About 1/4 cup ice water

Put the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor fitted with a metal blade; pulse just to combine the ingredients. Drop in the butter and shortening and pulse only until the butter and shortening are cut into the flour.

Don't overdo the mixing- what you're aiming for is to have some pieces the size of fat green peas and others the size of barley. Pulsing the machine on and off, gradually add about 3 tablespoons of the water- add a little water and pulse once, add some more water, pulse again and keep going that way. Then use a few long pulses to get the water into the flour. If, after a dozen or so pulses, the dough doesn't look evenly moistened or form soft curds, pulse in as much of the remaining water as necessary, or even a few drops more, to get a dough that will stick together when pinched. Big pieces of butter are fine. Scrape the dough out of the work bowl and onto a work surface.

Shape the dough into a disc and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour before rolling.

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line bake sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat. Work on a well-floured surface, taking care to keep the dough moving by turning it and flouring the surface often.

Roll the dough out to a 13-inch diameter and place on parchment-lined baking sheet. Lightly trace a 9-inch circle in the center of the dough - this is the area for the filling. Pour the peach pie filling into the 9-inch circle. Gently lift the unfilled border of the dough up and onto the filling.

Crumb Topping

1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter - softened
1/2 cup brown sugar

Mix all ingredients together.

Sprinkle crumb topping over the peach pie filling. Bake the galette for 25 minutes, or until the crust is brown. Enjoy!

Chocolate Galette

Posted by - Veronica

Check it out! I do still bake! It's just been a while....

Galette was a little bit tricky for me. My husband is not a fruit or vegetable eater, really, so I had to really hunt to find a recipe he could enjoy with me. I found some potato and cheese galettes, but they hardly seemed more like baking -- just layering potato slices and cheese together in a casserole dish. And then, inspiration struck -- and I googled "chocolate galette".



First, a confession -- I did, in fact, use a Pillsbury pie crust. I don't have a food processor, and trying to make my first pie crust by hand just seemed like an awful lot of work, given the short amount of time I had between getting home from "Scott Pilgrim vs the World" and when our company was supposed to arrive for dinner. So, Pillsbury to the rescue!

But, here is the rest of the recipe:

Chocolate Galette with Sea Salt
Pie Dough
2 1/4 Tbsp butter
1/8 plus 1/32 sugar
1 Egg, whisked
4 1/4 cups bittersweet chocolate
Dash of salt
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
Egg wash (1 ett plus 1 1/2 Tbsp water, whisked)
Sea Salt

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll out pie dough and place on parchment paper lined baking sheet. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.

2. Melt chocolate and butter together over low heat. Remove from heat.

3. Stir in sugar, eggs, salt and vanilla.

4. Spread chocolate filling onto uncooked pie dough, leaving about 1.5 - 2 inches of pie dough border. Fold dough over, and brush with egg wash.

5. Sprinkle some sea salt over entire pie.

6. Bake for about 20 to 30 minutes until pastry is golden brown.

7. Cool completely on a wire rack, and serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream.



So, an explanation, I think, is needed on some of those wonky measurements. I needed to do math....First, because the recipe was actually for 2 galettes, and I only wanted to make one. And second, because some of the ingredients were measured in ounces, and I had to convert. So, the recipe called for (for instance) 2.5 ounces of sugar. Which became 1.25 ounces, which converted to a bizarre 1/8 plus 1/32 cups. Which really, was just 1/8 plus a bit, for me. It also called for 3 eggs, so I had to make a call -- would I use one egg, or two? I went with one, and am curious how the texture would change if I did it again with two eggs.



In the end, I was quite happy with this, though. The chocolate filling was a bit brownie-like, so that the effect was of a brownie pie. The salt was barely noticeable, since I was very sparse in using it. I probably could have used more. And the whipped cream was the perfect topping. Here is the recipe for the whipped cream that I used.

Whipped Cream
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Whip cream until just shy of firm peaks. Add sugar and vanilla, and finish whipping. Voila!

Just couldn't help myself!

Posted by - Nancy

I already made a peach galette this month, but a few minutes after we finished that one my husband was saying he thought a savory version of the tart would be really good. So for the past week I have had that in the back of my mind. I threw around a few ideas for a savory tart, but none of them seemed quite right, and luckily my pregnant taste buds (it's a girl this time BTW!) went into overdrive imagining some of the taste combinations. I kept hovering on artichokes though, which seemed like they could make a great filling. So yesterday I took the plunge and made a savory Spinach and Artichoke Galette. Oh, and I pretty much made up the recipe as I went along so I will guesstimate on the standard measurement amounts.


Spinach & Artichoke Galette

Dough:
This time for the dough I decided to stick with something a bit more traditional (easy). I have made my grandma's pie dough recipe a lot and while it is finicky, it tastes great. But, I really liked the tang of the watered down yogurt from the recipe I tried for the peach galette, so I modified the tried and true a bit.

1 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
5-6 tbsp. chilled butter cut into pieces
2 tbsp. plain yogurt
2 tbsp. ice cold water

Mix the flour and salt in a bowl and cut in butter pieces. I always do this with my hands, that's how my grandma taught me! Set aside. Mix water and yogurt. Add one tablespoon at a time to flour mixture until dough starts to form. Press dough together onto plastic wrap, wrap and chill for 2 hours.

Filling:

Here is where the recipe is totally made up.

1/2 c. frozen spinach, thawed and drained
6-7 marinated artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
1/4 c. mayonnaise
1/2 c. plain yogurt
1 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
1 tbsp. flour
salt and pepper
garlic powder (optional)

Mix everything together in a bowl and chill for 1 hour (it seemed to help thicken it a bit).

Roll out dough on parchment paper to desired size. Place filling in middle then gather sides and pinch to form tart. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until dough is golden brown. Remove and let cool 10 minutes before cutting.



Oh, and sorry for the low quality photos. My husband wasn't patient enough for me to get the lighting right for good pictures. And the galette was delicious!

Fall Pear Galette

I thought for sure I would make a savory galette (and I will be making the carmelized onion and butternut squash recipe from Smitten Kitchen at some point) but when I stumbled on this recipe on Cooking Light it was love at first sight. Pears, cheese, caramel. Need I say more?
The recipe itself said to use a pre-made refrigerated pie crust but where's the challenge in that? No. I must make my own. I pulled out my handy Betty Crocker Cookbook and found a recipe in there that I have used before. Problem being, I didn't have enough Crisco so I had to make the oil-based crust and well...it just wasn't the same. It was super-crumbly, tough to roll out and just looked plain sad. Luckily, galette does not need to be pretty. Rustic, I believe was the proper adjective for a galette. My crust was rustic looking. It looked much better with a layer of cheddar cheese on it (what doesn't look better when covered in cheese, right)
I peeled, cored and sliced up 5 bosc pears and tossed them in nutmeg and lemon juice. Then I added a little flour. WAY too many pears! Three would have been plenty. There is no way I could have piled all those pears on my sad little crust and had anything to fold up on the edges. If I had paid attention to the comments on the Cooking Light website, I would have known this. Live and learn. So I put on as many as I could while being able to pinch the edges of the crust up enough to hold everything together. Popped it in a 400 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes, let it cool a bit and then made up some caramel on the stove to pour over the top.
To my surprise, the crust cooked up nicely and was perfectly flaky. The cheese and pears combo is a nice one cold and even better when the pears are baked and sweetened on top of melted gooey cheese. Caramel drizzle? Can't really ever go wrong there. The only thing I wished I had was a little vanilla ice cream with it. The warm/cold collision would have made it even better.

Posted by -colleen

Dark Chocolate and Blueberry Galette

Posted by - Katie

The other night I was talking to my best friend on the phone, when I mentioned something I’d been working on for this blog. “You blog?” she asked. “Oh, is it that food one?” Audible sigh. So I informed her that since I’d been working on this blog for 8 months, she needed to look at it, even though it was about something as unappealing/un-intellectually stimulating as food. I sent her the link, and proceeded to listen to her laugh maniacally. “Is this real? This is hysterical. You really write this stuff? I have to send this to my other friends who are weird about food.”

Now, many people would construe this sort of response as hurtful and un-supportive. But I find it both highly entertaining and priceless, mainly because it perfectly demonstrates the fact that Steph and I are complete opposites. She gets paid to blog about feminism; I don’t get paid to blog about domesticity. She eats mainly lettuce and is infamous for only wanting half of something scrumptious; I eat mainly everything and am known for eating my own portion as well as the half Steph didn’t want. She is in firm control of all her emotions; I generally like to savor and prolong emotional extremes. When we prioritize the importance of gaining money, prestige, family, love, and friendship in our lives, our lists come out as mirror images – both have friendship in the middle. Oh, and the boys we like could not be more different. Except for the time I was secretly dating Andrew. Which was now.

And yet, we find all the same things extremely hilarious – Mr. Godine used to call us “chuckles” and “giggles” because that was our main form of communication, although it’s still unclear who was who in that scenario. We like and dislike the same people, and despite being completely different, we understand each other. Also I hang out with her because I like her dad. (He once brought me a cookie at school when Steph told him I was having a bad day and since then I have been his most devoted fan. It’s startlingly easy to win my love. On the other hand, someone once ate my cookie on a date at Starbucks and I still haven’t really forgiven them, so just proceed with caution on the cookie front.)

So in honor of Steph gracing this blog with her presence, I’m making something that she would definitely refuse to eat more than 2 spoonfuls of – a blueberry and dark chocolate galette with homemade cinnamon ice cream. Also she would almost certainly end up with some if it in her hair, because that is something that frequently happens to her when eating. I think her hair has special attractive chemical properties. It can sometimes be a fun game to not tell her that she has cake in her hair and let her continue telling a story while the cake bobs wildly back and forth next to her face. Just kidding, Steph, I would never do that. I would also like to take this opportunity to mention that I think you’re incredibly smart and talented and I think you will probably get a great job.

The galette is my entry to this month’s Have the Cake baking challenge, and it’s using up the last of the wild Maine blueberries. The dark chocolate is included because it’s good for emotional people, such as myself. The ice cream is because I’ve been drooling over all of the homemade ice cream recipes that have been going up all over the web since May, (seriously, you guys are the worst), and have been saving my pennies in an empty cocoa tub hoping to one day purchase an ice cream maker. Actually, that’s a lie, Trevor and I used those pennies to buy chili cheese fries at the drive-in on the Fourth, but I like the idea of saving my pennies for an ice cream maker, so maybe I’ll start. Anyway, now I am living with my parents and their ice cream maker, so I can whip up frozen custards to my heart’s delight and rub them in non-ice-cream-machine-owner’s faces for another two weeks until I rejoin their sad ranks.

Or so I thought. But then my much anticipated use of the cuisinart automatic ice cream machine turned out to be a complete failure on the cuisinart’s part, so I resorted to sticking my melty custard in the freezer and stirring it once an hour. And shockingly enough, it came out incredible. Actually both the galette and the ice cream came out incredible. The ice cream was sophisticated and subtle, the dark chocolate-blueberry combo was complex and not too sweet, and all together it was really good. Not to brag. But it was really good. I think even Steph may have indulged in this one. Let me know what you think if you give either recipe a try!

[Note: Click here for Roasted Cinnamon Ice Cream recipe!]

Dark Chocolate and Blueberry Galette

Inspired by Shared Sugar, serves 10

• 1 stick butter, cold
• 4-10 TBS very cold water
• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 3 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1/3 c. heavy cream
• 3 c. fresh blueberries
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• 1/3 c. sugar

1. Prepare the pie crust: cut butter into small pieces. Return to fridge/freezer for 5 minutes or until needed. Mix flour, salt, and 1 tsp. sugar together in a medium bowl. Add cold butter and combine with a pastry cutter or fork until the whole mixture is crumbly with pea sized chunks of butter. Add cold water 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing with a fork in between additions. Add just enough water so that the crust comes together in a loose ball of dough. Turn out onto plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least half an hour.
2. Prepare the ganache: place chopped chocolate in a small heat proof bowl. In a small heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring cream just to a boil. Pour hot cream over chocolate and stir with a whisk until smooth. Allow to cool for 5 to ten minutes.
3. Prepare the filling: mix blueberries, 1/3 c. sugar, lemon juice, and corn starch together gently. Allow to stand for 10-15 minutes, until blueberries begin to juice.
4. Bake galette: preheat oven to 425°F. On a lightly floured surface, roll chilled pastry dough out into a circle about 1/4 inch thick and 12-14 inches in diameter. Transfer to a large baking sheet with sides. Spread a layer of ganache over the crust, leaving 2 inches at the edge. Pour blueberries over ganache layer, and fold the sides of the crust up over the filling, sealing any broken edges by pressing together. Bake for 20 minutes, then lower heat to 350°F and bake for another 25 minutes, until crust is light golden brown and filling is bubbly. Serve warm with Roasted Cinnamon Ice Cream.

Peachy Galette

Posted by - Nancy

I was excited to make this month's challenge since I had never made a galette before. Now usually I put the challenge off until the end of the month and then end up posting late. However, yesterday I was not feeling the greatest and so the little man and I stayed home and played all day. During nap time I was looking up recipes to make corn bread to go with our chili we had for dinner when I remembered I had some peaches in the fridge that were almost expired.

So I switched gears and looked for a good galette recipe for peaches. I found a super simple one and thought I'll just make my grandmother's pie dough and throw the peaches in. But I was intrigued by the crust recipe on the website I found so I gave it a whirl.


Peach Galette from Diana's Desserts

FOR THE DOUGH:
3 tablespoons sour cream (or yogurt or buttermilk)
1/3 cup ice water
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 6 to 8 pieces

Since her recipe made crust for 2, I halved the ingredients. I was interested in what mixing the yogurt and water would result in. While I was mixing the dough my son woke up and so I went to get him. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that I had already added the yogurt before I went to get him (pregnant brain) and I added twice the yogurt mixture resulting in soupy dough. So I had to make the dough again. I realized I didn't like the cornmeal in the dough though, so I omitted it the second time.

After letting the dough chill, I simply rolled it out. placed the peaches on top with a few slivers of butter and some brown sugar and pinched the edges. After dinner we dug into it and it was delicious.















I had a little bit of leftover homemade blueberry syrup so we drizzled that on top. I thought it tasted good, but my husband didn't like the blueberry peach mix.
















Oh, and the dough was really flaky and the yogurt gave it a nice tang. I would be willing to try the dough again on something like a cherry pie where the tang would be a good mix with the sweet.

Triple Berry Galette

Posted by - Louanne

Today's post is my first entry as a Have the Cake baker! I was both excited & anxious when I saw the challenge was a galette, as I'd never made one before. My research began, and low and behold, I found out that a galette is aka a crostata, rustic pie, and lazy man's pie. As I was looking about, I found Ina's recipe for crostata; she incorporated a crumble topping, and I decided to do the same for the galette. As far as filling, I used berries, because I love the beautiful jewel tones. I decided to forego the custard filling. Now, on to the crust...

I've made pie crust before, but it always seemed to be lacking, in either appearance, texture, or both. Well, at least with a galette, I didn't have to worry about the appearance as there is no crimping.

So, my focus was on the texture. I knew that great pastry hinges on butter, specifically, the temperature and flour incorporation. Regardless of the methods I had used previously, pastry cutter or food processor, my results were inconsistent, thus, my dilemma. How could I make really great pastry without a pastry cutter or food processor? Well, here's my solution:

1. Chill the butter in the freezer so it's really cold - I cubed two sticks of butter then chilled them in the freezer for 15 minutes
2. Add ice cold water by tablespoon - fill a measuring cup with ice cubes and water, and chill in the freezer along with the butter, add to butter/flour mixture tablespoon by tablespoon

3. Limit direct hand to pastry contact - used a ziplock bag and a rolling pin to incorporate the butter into the flour, and only used my hand to incorporate the water

This worked! Seriously, it was the best pastry I've made to date, flaky, light, absolutely delicious and perfect. And, I'm so pleased with the method, that I plan to make a traditional pie over the weekend just so I can take photos of the entire process. If you're at all intimidated by pie-making, give this method and recipe a try.

Triple Berry Galette Printable recipe

the pastry
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tablespoons superfine sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
Ice cold water

the fruit
1 cup blueberries
1 cup blackberries
1 cup raspberries
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon flour

the crumble
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup unsalted butter
Pinch of salt

Pastry method
Cut the sticks of butter into small cubes by quartering each stick of butter lengthwise and then cutting into cubes, 32 cubes per stick, total of 64 cubes of butter.
Place cubes on a plate, and place plate into freezer for 15 minutes.
Fill a measuring cup with ice cubes and water; chill in freezer alongside the butter.
In a large ziplock bag (1 gallon size), measure in flour, sugar, and salt.
Once butter has chilled for 15 minutes, drop cubes into ziplock bag (a few at a time) and shake to coat with flour. Repeat until all cubes have been added to the bag.
Press out all air and seal bag.
Place bag on a flat surface, jiggling the bag to distribute the flour and butter mixture evenly.
Using a rolling pin, roll over the bag incorporating the butter into the flour mixture.
After rolling over the bag 2 times, shake and turn the bag to redristribute the mixture, and repeat the process another 3-4 times.
Pour mixture onto a clean surface, and sprinkle on 4 tablespoons of ice cold water. I use a pastry scraper and my hands to incorporate the water. Continue to add water, one tablespoon at a time until you have a shaggy looking mass that holds together when you pinch it between your fingers. I added about 11 tablespoons of water.
Divide the dough in half, form into 2 disks, and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Fruit filling
While pastry is chilling in the refrigerator, combine fruits, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and 1 tablespoons of flour. Stir to combine, and set aside.

Crumble topping
Using the same method as for the pastry, combine the crumble ingredients and chill in the refrigerator until time to assemble the galette.

To assemble the galette:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Prepare a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.
Roll out one disk of pastry into a circle - it doesn't have to be a perfect circle - and move pastry onto the prepared baking sheet.
Spoon berry mixture in the center of the pastry, leaving a 1 1/2 inch border.
Sprinkle on crumble topping, and then fold pastry inward, onto the berries, pleating the dough as you fold inward.
Bake at 450 degrees for 30 minutes.
Remove from oven and serve warm.
Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Ina Garten

Honey Almond Pear Galette

Posted by -Angela from Soap Mom's Kitchen

I am so excited about the August challenge.  Now, I had to do a little research on this subject. What I found is that a Galette is to the French, as Crostata is to the Italians, but to us Americans it is a Lazy Pie. Somehow, I find that term appealing to me. A Lazy Pie suits me fine. On my quest to find the perfect Lazy Pie, a.k.a. "Galette, " I notice that the Pate' Sucree, a fancy word for pie dough in the French lanuguage is similar to my favorite pie crust. So, I just figured why not use my favorite pie dough recipe from King Arthur Flour. I have never made a pie using this free form technique before. I must confess I am hooked.

Well, a few of my favorite things is frangipane, pastry cream, honey and pears. The rest is history. I gathered a few miscellaneous recipes from searching the web throughout the years and somehow manage to put together a French Masterpiece. It is delicious! I have a lovely friend who is French and I hope he will approve of my Galette. 

I know I will be making Galettes, Lazy Pies, Crostatas or what ever you want to call it for my holiday table, or just because I feel like pie. Anyways, they are unpretentious and a lot of fun to make! It's casual and I think a glass of sweet wine would go quite nicely with my GALETTE. There I said it!

The Goodies

Uncooked Pate' Sucree topped with Frangipane and Pastry Cream

Pie crust: (Pate'  Sucree) recipe from King Arthur Flour

2 cups flour
2 cups unsalted cold butter
Pinch salt
1 T. sugar
1 cold egg

In a food processor; process flour, salt, sugar and butter until you get a fine meal. Add egg continue to process until dough comes together. If you need to add a little bit of cold water for it to form a ball, go ahead but very little at a time. Refrigerate for 1/2 hour to 1 hour. Enough for two Galettes or several mini Galettes.

Frangipane
5 oz. almond paste
1 T. Honey
2 eggs
4 tsp. corn starch

Blend in food processor until smooth (enough for one Galette)


Microwave Pastry Cream: from Beatrice Ojakangas
1 cup heavy cream
2 T. sugar I used 4 T. sugar
1 1/2 T. corn starch
1 egg yolk
1 tsp. vanilla
I added a pat of unsalted butter

In a microwave bowl. Add one cup heavy cream, sugar, corn starch and beat with a whisk. Microwave a minute at a time and stir with spoon until mixture looks like thick pudding. Add your egg yolk, vanilla and butter and mix with a fork until well incorporated. Love this method for a quick pastry cream. It is fabulous!
(Enough for 2 Galettes)

2 pears
Peeled and sliced, add one tsp. lemon juice and  one tsp. sugar

Assembly:
Divide dough in half and roll out one round pie crust on parchment paper with a generous dusting of flour, put a round layer of frangipane in middle, put a round layer of pastry cream on top of the frangipane, layer with pears. Bring sides of dough up to form an edge. I used an egg yolk wash and coarse sugar to sprinkle. Transfer Galette with parchment paper on to a cookie sheet.

Will have extra pie dough left (save for another Galette)

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 45 minutes or until golden brown.

When cooled. I brushed with a honey glaze. Add toasted almonds and drizzle confectioner's icing.

Honey Glaze:
1/4 cup honey with 2 tsp. almond extract

Confectioner's Icing

1/4 cup of powder sugar, add enough almond extract and a touch of water to make a thin icing and pour on top of Gallette

Uncooked Galette topped with Sliced Pears

Uncooked Galette with egg wash and coarse sugar

Brush with Honey Glaze, drizzle Confectioner's Icing and add toasted Almonds.

Ready to Serve!