This rustic French apple galette is easier than pie but just as impressive! Made with flaky sour cream pastry, almond filling and beautifully fanned apples, this simple dessert is perfect for autumn and winter baking.
About This Apple Galette
This apple galette makes the most of apples in this delicious French tart. This French galette is a free form pastry that is gorgeous, rustic and simple. It has a sour cream pastry base, an almond frangipane style filling and sliced apples fanned out on top. And best of all, it is very simple to make and impressive!
Why You'll Love This Apple Galette
The pastry is super easy and done in less than 5 minutes in a food processor or Thermomix. There's no need to buy pastry when it is this simple.
It is so pretty! The fanned apples serve a dual purpose - they look good but they also cook quicker when fanned out.
The filling gives this a richness that cannot be beat. Sometimes galettes are just the fruit and pastry like this strawberry galette and that's great but the almond filling elevates it that much more.
Don't have apples? Try it with other fruit. I made it with plums and it worked so well!
Ingredients For Apple Galette
Butter - I prefer salted butter (I love salt!). Make sure that it is cubed and then place it in the freezer for 10 minutes before using it.
Flour - Plain all purpose flour is perfect for this.
Sugar - We are using two types of sugar: first we use caster or superfine sugar as it will melt better in the pastry and on top of the fruit. The second type of sugar is raw sugar on the edge which will add a nice crunch to each bite.
Salt - A bit of fine salt to balance the sweetness!
Sour cream - Full fat sour cream for that wonderful melt in the mouth texture!
Apples - Granny Smith apples are perfect for this recipe.
Almond meal - aka ground almonds. You can also use ground hazelnuts.
Glaze - Use either 1 tablespoon of cream or an egg yolk as a glaze.
Cinnamon Sugar - You can buy this premade or mix it yourself. Mix 4 tablespoons of sugar with 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon. I keep this in a little jar ready for oatmeal and other apple recipes.
Video How To Make Apple Galette
Video: How to Make an Apple Galette
Tips For Making Apple Galette
1 - The exact amount of flour varies somewhat so your dough may be sticky or dry. But once you refrigerate it and roll it out under cling film it should firm up nicely.
2 - If the dough is too stiff to roll out, let it rest for 5-10 minutes at room temperature.
3 - Make sure to roll the pastry out to the full size of 30cm/12 inches or it will be too thick when you bake it.
4 - Leave the skin on the apples for a pretty visual effect. You can also use peeled apples if you prefer but it won't quite look at the same.
5 - You can use other fruit, as long as the fruit is firm enough to slice thinly. Soft fruit won't cut up cleanly enough. Having said that, I have had some success semi freezing soft fruit and then slicing it. That won't work on super soft or mushy fruit but it will work on slightly soft fruit.
6 - Chilling the pastry before baking it gives it time to firm up and bake better.
Preparation time: 30 minutes plus chilling time 45 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Serves: 8
Ingredients Needed
For Pastry:
180g/6ozs. butter, chilled and cubed (frozen 10 minutes)
270g/ozs plain all purpose flour
40g/1.4oz caster or superfine sugar
Pinch salt
60g/2ozs. sour cream
For Filling:
50g/1.7oz almond meal
25g/1oz plain all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons caster or superfine sugar
2-3 Granny Smith apples around 400g/14oz total
To Glaze/Sprinkle:
1 tablespoon cream or an egg yolk
1 tablespoon raw sugar to sprinkle on top
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon sugar
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1 BLITZ - Place the butter, flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and blitz until you get a fine sandy texture (Thermomix 20 seconds, speed #6). Add in the sour cream and pulse until it just comes together (Thermomix turbo 2 seconds, 2-3 times).
Step 2 DOUGH BALL- Flour a surface lightly and shape the dough into a ball. It should be a cohesive dough but not too sticky. If it is sticky, knead in another tablespoon or so of flour. Then press dough ball down into a flat round. Cover with cling film and place in the fridge for 30-45 minutes to rest.
Step 3 ROLL - When the pastry has had its time, remove cling film and place the dough round on a large sheet of parchment. Cover with the cling film used before and then using a rolling pin, roll out to a 30cm/12inch round. Trim around the edges to make it more even with a pizza cutter or small knife.
Step 4 FILLING - In a bowl, mix the almond meal, flour, cinnamon and sugar together. Spread across the dough leaving a 1 inch border.
Step 5 APPLES - Remove the apple core using an apple corer or cut the apples in half and remove the core by scooping it out using a melon baller. Slice apple thinly and place on the filling on top of the filling, avoiding the 1 inch border. Fan in different directions. Fold over the pastry back on top of the fruit edge.
Step 6 BAKE - Brush cream or egg yolk around the folded over edge and sprinkle with raw sugar and then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar over the apples. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. In the meantime preheat oven to 180C/350F fan forced or 200C/392F conventional. Bake galette for 30 minutes, then turn around for even baking and bake for another 10-15 minutes until golden. Cool for 15 minutes and then serve with vanilla ice cream.
The cooked galette can be frozen for up to 2 months.
Personal Note
I made this galette just before we left for our holiday to Bali and Singapore and then thawed it to eat as once we got back, it was cold and wintry in Sydney and we needed something delicious. Although we had only been in Singapore in March for my father's funeral, some things had changed in some rather quirky ways.
For starters my sister is learning Italian so my mother is now called "Nonna". She used to be called Grandma (she's Mimi, Teddy and Milo's grandmother) but now she is called Nonna. When my sister Blythe called for Nonna I looked around wondering who she was talking to!
Another new thing is the grab bars installed through the house. Sometimes my mother needs to go from her bedroom to the bathroom in the middle of the night. They have sensor lights that go on but they wanted to buy her a couple of grab bars. Blythe said, "It was the same price for 8 as it is for 2 so course we got 8!". So there are now 8 grab bars all through the house! They may not look great but they're practical and more importantly, they were practically free.
I think my sister is used to looking after my parents because Mr NQN was lying back on the couch and it was time to go out one day. He is not a guy in any sort of hurry (whereas my family are always in a hurry to do something) so he didn't get up straight away. Blythe turned to me and asked, "Can he not get up?". He is actually younger than she is but I guess she is used to my parents!
So tell me Dear Reader, would you describe your family as quirky?
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