Recipe: Apple Galette with Autumn Spices

Ok, friends, I know I just shared a lightened recipe last week so you might have been fooled into thinking I was being virtuous when it came to my food choices.  Because behind the scenes I’ve been working on this apple galette recipe, and it makes no pretenses about being healthy.  I mean, there’s butter, yes, lots of it, making this crust unbelievably flaky but not what you would call good for you.

Now that I think about it, though, there’s not much sugar in the apple topping.  Instead, warm spices and orange zest sweeten the mix and lend a deliciously autumn flavor to the Honeycrisp apple slices I chose.  So, in conclusion, the crust = not so healthy.  The apples = healthyish.

But, you don’t want to separate the two.  No, they elevate each other with the perfect balance of textures: flaky, gooey, crisp, and soft.  You won’t be sad if you serve the galette warm, topped with vanilla ice cream.  Is that tipping the scales?  You be the judge.

On another note, I have to give a shout out to my friends and family who have been so generous with their new recipe tasting jobs.  Even my brother, who is allergic to apples, got in on the tasting for this one.  Because for some reason every year I forget that he’s allergic to apples (it’s a recent development), and then inevitably he comes out to visit right in the middle of apple pie-baking season.  And he always volunteers to taste the apple creations, because he’s awesome like that. He suffered an itchy mouth for this galette, but gave it a thumbs up.  I mean, that’s what you call commitment.

Apple Galette with Autumn Spices

Ingredients:

For the crust:

• 2 sticks of butter, frozen
• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 2 to 4 TBSP cold water
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt

For the apple filling:

• 3 large Honeycrisp apples, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 TBSP orange juice
• I TBSP brown sugar
• 1/2 TBSP cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cardamon
• 1/2 TBSP orange zest

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a food processor, combine flour, sugar, and salt.  Add frozen butter, cut into cubes, and pulse the mixture until it resembles small pebbles.  Add cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse until mixture comes together.
3. Gently form the mixture into two flattened discs, wrap in parchment paper, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
4. When dough is chilled, remove from refrigerator and roll each disc into either a rectangle (like I chose) or a circle.  Use a pinch of flour to help roll the dough if it gets sticky.
5. Return the rolled dough to the refrigerator for 30 more minutes.
6. Meanwhile, peel and slice your apples.  Toss apples with all remaining ingredients except for the orange zest, evenly coating the apple slices with the mixture.
7. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  On each piece of dough arrange the apple slices in layered rows (for a rectangular crust) or in concentric circles (for a circular crust).
8. Sprinkle the apples with most of the orange zest, then bake the galettes for 45-55 minutes.  Rotate the tray every 15 minutes to ensure the crust bakes evenly, and check to ensure apples are cooked through.
9. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with the remaining orange zest, and cool for at least five minutes before serving warm, with ice cream if you’d like.