Make My Galette Mini

mini fruit galettes

mini fruit galettes

I’m a galette lover. They are oh, so, splendidly free-form. Roll out your pastry dough into a rough circle, or oval, or oblong, or isosceles triangle (remember those?)–almost any shape works. Place your filling roughly in the center and fold over the dough borders. Bake. Tastes as wonderful as any pie you worked at fitting into a pan. Actually. It may even taste better. It’s non-conformist nature adds a taste of the wild.

Me and my love of the itty-bitty, took a galette a step further and made mini-galettes. Individual serving galettes. This takes a bit more time (as anything in many small shapes will) but I LOVE the results.

rolling dough for mini-galettes in my class

rolling dough for mini-galettes in my class

getting galettes ready to bake

getting galettes ready to bake

We make them in my classes and the thrill mounts as the little darlings of a pie come together.

Ready to bake mini-galettes

Ready to bake mini-galettes

Choose your fruit filling to go with the season. Peaches would be lovely now. Or berries and cherries. We’ve baked them with pears and apples, apricots and plums, blackberries and strawberries. ALL GOOD. Add a spoonful of whipped cream or ice cream to your own little fresh-baked galette and relax in the galette glow.

Mini-Galettes 

For the crust:

2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

pinch salt

10 tablespoons cold butter, cut into cubes

1/3 cup cold white wine

For the filling:

2-3 peaches or pears

1/3 cup walnuts, broken into small pieces

1/3 cup dried cranberries or blueberries

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons flour

1 egg, beaten in a small bowl with a tablespoon of water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

For the crust: In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar and salt. Add the butter and pulse until butter is broken up but not totally blended— still some small chunks. Add the wine, process until a dough forms in a clump. Take dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap. Shape into a thick disk, wrap and refrigerate for about an hour.

For the filling: Peel the pears, cut into quarters, cut each quarter in half width-wise, and cut each piece into small chunks. In a mixing bowl stir together the pears, nuts, cranberries, sugar, cinnamon, and flour.

Make the galettes: Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to a large circle or oblong, about 1/8” thick. Cut 6-inch circles of dough. Roll up scraps and cut out more circles. In the center of each circle, leaving a 1-inch border, place 2-3 tablespoons of filling. Fold over the border edges like a galette, making folds and flattening slightly. Brush dough with egg wash. Bake for about 30 minutes until the dough is golden, and filling is bubbling.

mini fruit galettes

mini fruit galettes

Would you like a little chocolate tart?

 

Chocolate Tarts in pan

Chocolate Tarts in pan

Whoa. What a blast in class tonight. We were cookin’ with gas even tho I have an electric stove top. But we knew what we were doing. It was like a little tornado in the kitchen. Spinning energy that stirred up every dish with friendly hot-happy enthusiasm. Oh yeah. Thank you great cooks who come cook with me!

Amidst the black pepper-infused fresh fettuccine (we thought we had over-peppered the pasta dough, but, oh, no, it was peppery and beautiful), and the veal stew with artichokes & white wine, and the escarole sautéed with garlic and dried cranberries, were the little charmers that made it out of the oven with modest sweetness and then wowed us when we crowned them with whipped cream and orange zest. Yay, dessert, we would never desert you. Little chocolate tarts …we bow to your genius.

How to? Easy. (I’m always interested in that special kind of easy that creates wonders.) (The kind I’ve seen over and over in Italian kitchens where the simple is the sublime.) (That’s my goal.) (Always.)

For the Crust:

3/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon sugar

pinch salt

1/2 stick cold butter (4 tablespoons), cut into small cubes

1/8 cup ice-cold white wine (or a bit more if needed)

Pulse dry ingredients in a food processor. Add butter, pulse till broken up but still with big chunks. Add wine. Pulse till it comes together in a ball of dough. Press dough into a flat, thick disk. Wrap in plastic. Refrigerate 1 hour.

Roll out dough. Cut 3.5 to 4 inch circles. Fit dough gently into medium cupcake tin cups. Add some parchment in each, fill with dried beans, blind bake for 12 minutes in 375 degree oven. Remove parchment and beans.

For the Filling:

Heat 2/3 cup heavy cream in a small saucepan. When hot add 4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, 1/2 teaspoon each: vanilla extract, orange extract, instant espresso powder. Whisk smooth. Beat an egg in a small bowl. Add a couple teaspoons of hot chocolate mixture to temper, whisk in. Then add egg to chocolate mixture and whisk till smooth.

Spoon filling into crusts. Bake for 10 minutes.

IMG_5053

When cool. Beat 1/2 cup heavy cream into whipped cream (with 1/2 teaspoon of sugar). Add a dollop to each tart. Sprinkle with some orange zest.

Chocolate Tarts w Cream

Chocolate Tarts w Cream

Try eating these with a fork in dainty forkfuls. Or by hand, just bite into them (with dainty bites). Or if you’re really feeling ambitious, pretend you’re on the Flintstones where any bite is a big one and munch the whole thing at once.

(It’s all a matter of style.)

Chocolate Tarts w Whipped Cream

Chocolate Tarts w Whipped Cream