Over the last couple of months I've been experimenting with galettes. They're pretty easy to make and you can have a lot of fun thinking of combinations of fruit and flavours. Galettes can be made with almost any crust you prefer, but I'm particularly fond of the shortcrust pastry that I've been using. It's crisp and flaky, oh so buttery, and sweetened very slightly with a hint of sugar.
So when I was asked to take part in an interesting dessert challenge for the Most Wanted "Make Summer Taste Better" series, a galette was the first thing that came to mind!
I was asked to come up with a dessert perfect for a picnic, BBQ or garden party. Something very Summery, and, something that costs no more than £7 / €8 . Summer and easy I can do, but I wasn't entirely sure I'd be able to come in under budget. To be honest, I don't always consider cost when I bake, I'm more of a grab-whatever-gets-my-attention-in-the-grocery-store kind of baker ;)
But as it turns out, my idea of a galette was spot on... in all categories!
If you've never heard of a galette, it's actually a very broad term. It's a tart that can be sweet or savoury, but it's usually flat, round and sometimes free-form. Similar to the French galette, the Italian crostata is also a round fruit tart, sometimes free-form, sometimes made in a tart dish, but with a slightly different pastry recipe.
My galette recipe is a free-form round fruit tart, and as I mentioned, with a lovely shortcrust or pâte brisée pastry. I decided to make these as individual tartlettes following the theme of something easy for al fresco dining, but you can very easily just make this as one large galette to cut and serve as slices.
Individual galettes, perfect for summer
Now I realise that shortcrust pastry has the bad rap of being difficult to make, that it's all fiddly and temperamental, but honestly, the biggest tip is just to keep everything cold. Cold is good. Slightly dry, slightly too wet, not the end of the world (shhh, don't tell any pastry chef that I said that!). But keeping things cold means that all the butter doesn't melt into the flour because you want to get little bits of butter which helps make the pastry to be beautifully flaky and crisp.
Don't be scared of the Shortcrust! :)
It's especially easy to make if you have a food processor, that means there's no hands-on time which helps with the keeping-things-cold rule.
But, you can make perfectly good shortcrust by hand, in fact, sometimes I prefer it. One less appliance to take out and pack away and rubbing the butter into the flour by hand can give you more control to get the right texture.
We've been getting amazing cherries this summer, plump and sweet, I thought they'd be great for a summery dessert.
Then while browsing the fruits on offer I spotted lovely apricots. These two stone fruits seemed like they'd make a good taste duo!
I also decided to add some apricot conserve to my tartelettes. It added sweetness and enhanced the flavour of apricots.
Apricot conserve spread over the pastry, apricot halves and quarters and cherry halves arranged on top
Egg-washed and sprinkled with sugar and orange zest
I took a few of these galettes to work (my hubby and I can only easy so many!) and I got rave reviews! Everyone thought they were just perfect for a summer dessert. They also loved that they weren't overly too sweet, the apricots were slightly sour, the cherries sweet.
And I made sure they enjoyed them properly with a dollop of crème fraiche on top! In passing, I actually heard one of my work friends say that they wouldn't normally enjoy crème fraiche but that it was great with these tarts as it was a little lighter than whipped cream and was just the perfect accompaniment.
And of course, the pastry! I had lots of comments about the buttery, flaky goodness that is shortcrust!
Served with a dollop of crème fraiche
Oh, and if you're wondering what this tasty treat will cost you (after all, that was part of the challenge), I'll break it down for you. (I've put the costs down to the amounts needed for the recipe as I was told I was allowed to do, cupboard staples included).
Four/Six Individual or One Large Galette:
Cupboard Staples:
Unsalted Butter: £0.76 / €0.89
Flour: £0.14 / €0.17
Egg: £0.23 / €0.28
Caster Sugar: £0.08 / €0.10
Dessert Specific:
Apricots: £1.70 / €1.99
Cherries: £1.70 / €1.99
Apricot Conserve: £0.84 / €0.99
Crème Fraiche: £0.76 / €0.89
(Rounded) Grand Total: £6.50 / €7.50
So there you go, a budget friendly summer dessert that tastes great warm out the oven or cold, served with crème fraiche or a scoop of ice-cream, or even just eaten plain :)
Dig in!
Apricot & Cherry Galette
Makes 4 - 6 Individual Tartlettes
| Shortcrust Pastry Ingredients | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 155g | 5½oz | 1¼ cups | Plain Flour |
| 2 tsp | 2 tsp | 2 tsp | Caster Sugar |
| ¼ tsp | ¼ tsp | ¼ tsp | Salt |
| 115g | 4oz | ½ cup (1 stick) | Unsalted Butter, chilled & cubed |
| 3-4 Tbsp | 3-4 Tbsp | 3-4 Tbsp | Ice Water |
Shortcrust Pastry Method
Food Processor
- Combine flour, sugar and salt in a food processor bowl
- Give a quick pulse to mix dry ingredients
- Add half of the cubed butter and pulse about 6 - 8 times
- Add the remaining cubes of butter and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs but there are still plenty of pea-sized pieces of butter, another 6 - 8 pulses
- Pour in 2 Tbsp ice water and pulse to combine
- Add more ice water, a Tbsp at a time and pulsing after each addition, until the mixture starts to clump together
- Tip: Test if the pastry has enough liquid by squeezing a small amount together between your fingers, if it holds together then it's perfect, if not, add another Tbsp of water
By Hand
- Combine flour, sugar and salt in a bowl
- Mix dry ingredients together with a whisk or fork
- Add the cubes of cold butter to the dry ingredients, using a fork or pastry cutter, "cut" the butter into the dry ingredients, or using the tips of your fingers, rub the butter into the flour mixture
- Tip: At this stage, I like to cover the bowl in clingfilm and freeze the mixture for 15-20mins so that the butter firms up again after being warmed and softened by your hands
- Once the mixture resembles breadcrumbs but there are still lots of pea-sized pieces of butter, use a blunt knife to stir in 2 Tbsp of the cold water
- Add more ice water, a Tbsp at a time stirring after each addition, until the mixture starts to clump together
- Tip: Test if the pastry has enough liquid by squeezing a small amount together between your fingers, if it holds together then it's perfect, if not, add another Tbsp of water
Finishing the Pastry
- Turn mixture out onto a clean surface and press the crumbly dough together to form a disc
- Tip: This is best done on a cold surface like marble, granite or tiles
- Tip: Try not to overwork the pastry when bringing it together, you just need to work it until it all comes together in one mass, and you should see small specks of butter throughout
- Divide the pastry dough into equal 4 or 6 pieces, forming smaller discs
- Lightly dust either side of the pastry with flour and wrap discs in clingfilm, refrigerate for at least 1 hour or freeze for 30 minutes
- Tip: At this stage, you can leave the pastry in the fridge overnight and then continue with your galettes the next day
Apricot & Cherry Galette
| Ingredients | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 4-6 Tbsp | 4-6 Tbsp | 4-6 Tbsp | Apricot Conserve or Jam |
| 4-6 | 4-6 | 4-6 | Apricots, halved & pitted |
| 250g | 9oz | 1 punnet | Cherries, pitted & halved |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | Egg, beaten with 1 Tbsp Milk or Water |
| 4-6 tsp | 4-6 tsp | 4-6 tsp | Caster Sugar |
Method
- Use a floured rolling pin to roll out each shortcrust disc on a floured surface, making sure to keep the pastry moving on the surface and flouring under the pastry as needed to keep it from sticking. Roll pastry to about 5mm thick
- Tip: You can also roll out the discs between 2 sheets of parchment paper
- Trim the edges of each pastry round with a sharp knife (or leave them if you want your tartlettes more rustic)
- Arrange pastry rounds on a baking tray lined with parchment paper
- Spread 1 Tbsp of apricot conserve or jam onto the centre of each shortcrust round, keeping a border of about 5cm
- Arrange apricots and cherries on area of shortcrust with conserve
- Tip: You can either strew the fruits randomly, or arrange them a little more aesthetically. I put a half apricot in the centre, then a ring of cheries, and a final ring of apricots eighths
- Fold dough border up over the fruit starting at 6 o'clock and working your way around the pastry until you're back to where you started, crimping pastry together where the folds meet to help it stick (see photo below)
- Refrigerate for 20-30mins
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 200°C / 180°C Fan Assisted / 400°F
Folding the pastry border
Baking
- Use a pastry brush to egg-wash the pastry border of each tartlette
- Sprinkle sugar on egg-washed pastry
- Tip: I also grated a bit of orange zest over the fruit of each galette
- Bake in preheated oven for 25-30mins, until fruit is bubbling and the pastry is a deep golden brown
- Remove from oven once baked and leave galettes to cool on baking tray for 10 - 15mins
- Serve galettes warm or leave to cool completely and store in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to enjoy, like on your picnic! And don't forget the crème fraiche :)
Pâte Brisée recipe adapted from Simply Recipes
Other Tips:
These galettes are delicious served out of the fridge or at room temperature
To reheat galettes, heat oven to 180°C / 160°C Fan Assisted / 350°F and bake tarts on a baking tray for about 10minutes, just until heated through and the pastry has crisped
Store tartlettes in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days
