Throughout January the entire French nation pauses its New Year dieting resolutions to indulge in the universally loved Galette des Rois, a pie with a delicious almond filling that celebrates Epiphany. Families, colleagues and friends gather endlessly to eat it together and see who will discover, hidden in their slice, the little ceramic trinket (la fève) that will make them King for the day. A lovely way to spend indoors a cold and snowy Sunday!
Galette des rois Ă la frangipane (almond pie)
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Recipe by: Family recipe Busy:20 min, Total prep time: 1 hr Serves: 8 |
Divide the puff pastry in two and roll out each half into a 28-30 cm diameter circle. You can use an upside down cake mould or plate to help you cut the pastry into a perfect circle, although I personally take full artistic license in my tracing. The key thing is not to squash the pastry with the mould otherwise it won’t puff as well. Cut it with a sharp knife.
Place one circle on an oven tray lined with greaseproof paper, reserve the other in the fridge if you can.
Beat with a fork the butter and sugar into a soft, creamy texture. Mix in the almonds, almond extract and egg until obtaining a homogenous paste. Stir the milk in. The paste should be granular and have a consistency similar to that of Nutella at room temperature, i.e. soft and easy to spread, but not liquid.
Spoon the mixture evenly onto the disk within about 2 cm (just under 1 inch) off the edge. Brush a bit of water on the outer edge of the pastry circle. Try not to wet the very side of the pastry, where it has been cut, as this would glue the pastry leaves together and prevent it from rising.
Add the fève, coin or bean, if using, in the filling. Place it near the edge so as to minimise the chances of cutting through it when slicing the galette.
Cover the pastry with the circle you reserved and seal both edges by delicately pressing your fingers around them Make sure the two circles are well sealed otherwise the filling could leak when baking.
With a knife, draw loosely spaced (4-5 cms, 2 inches) parallel lines on top of the pastry. Be careful not to pierce through it. Draw another set of lines at an angle so as to obtain a regular criss-crossing pattern covering the entire pastry.
Mix the egg yolk with a bit of water and brush the yolk mixture lightly on the galette. This will give it a lovely glossy finish. Finally, with a thin sharp knife, pierce the puff pastry discreetly at 5 or 6 places to allow the air to escape. The most discrete points are where two lines of the criss-crossing pattern intersect.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the pastry puffs up and acquires a deep golden brown shade. Cover with greaseproof paper and reduce the heat to 190 degrees C, and bake for another 20 mins.
Serve with a crown on top and eat preferably warm.
Preheat oven to 210 degrees.
Divide the puff pastry in two and roll out each half into a 28-30 cm diameter circle. You can use an upside down cake mould or plate to help you cut the pastry into a perfect circle, although I personally take full artistic license in my tracing. The key thing is not to squash the pastry with the mould otherwise it won’t puff as well. Cut it with a sharp knife.
Place one circle on an oven tray lined with greaseproof paper, reserve the other in the fridge if you can.
Beat with a fork the butter and sugar into a soft, creamy texture. Mix in the almonds, almond extract and egg until obtaining a homogenous paste. Stir the milk in. The paste should be granular and have a consistency similar to that of Nutella at room temperature, i.e. soft and easy to spread, but not liquid.
Spoon the mixture evenly onto the disk within about 2 cm (just under 1 inch) off the edge. Brush a bit of water on the outer edge of the pastry circle. Try not to wet the very side of the pastry, where it has been cut, as this would glue the pastry leaves together and prevent it from rising.
Add the fève, coin or bean, if using, in the filling. Place it near the edge so as to minimise the chances of cutting through it when slicing the galette.
Cover the pastry with the circle you reserved and seal both edges by delicately pressing your fingers around them Make sure the two circles are well sealed otherwise the filling could leak when baking.
With a knife, draw loosely spaced (4-5 cms, 2 inches) parallel lines on top of the pastry. Be careful not to pierce through it. Draw another set of lines at an angle so as to obtain a regular criss-crossing pattern covering the entire pastry.
Mix the egg yolk with a bit of water and brush the yolk mixture lightly on the galette. This will give it a lovely glossy finish. Finally, with a thin sharp knife, pierce the puff pastry discreetly at 5 or 6 places to allow the air to escape. The most discrete points are where two lines of the criss-crossing pattern intersect.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the pastry puffs up and acquires a deep golden brown shade. Cover with greaseproof paper and reduce the heat to 190 degrees C, and bake for another 20 mins.
Serve with a crown on top and eat preferably warm.
French tradition requires that the youngest (the one with the purest soul) in the room goes under the table and allocates each slice the host is picking. The lucky one who gets the fève becomes the King (or the Queen), and gets to pick his Queen or King. When there are very young children I tend to put more than one fève in the pie, and I mark the edge of the pastry with a small cut to indicate where I placed them (do this before covering them with the top pastry circle!). That way, I get to bend destiny a bit and turn all the little ones into happy and super excited mini kings and mini queens... :-)
Ingredients
500 g puff pastry
100g lightly salted butter, at room temperature
100 g ground almonds
100 g sugar
1 egg
2 drops almond extract
40 ml milk or 25 ml milk and one tablespoon rum
1 egg yolk
A ceramic “fève” or a well washed coin or a dried bean, and of course, a crown!
500 g puff pastry
100g lightly salted butter, at room temperature
100 g ground almonds
100 g sugar
1 egg
2 drops almond extract
40 ml milk or 25 ml milk and one tablespoon rum
1 egg yolk
A ceramic “fève” or a well washed coin or a dried bean, and of course, a crown!
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