Apple galette

for autumn or winter

A great dessert for autumn and winter when the apples are fresh! This will also work with pears too. I had some puff pastry in the freezer so it was a very quick dessert, but short crust would also work and I have included a recipe for one if you would like to make it. It is nice to have some pastry in the freezer, so when you have people over it’s easy to prepare.

Makes 1 galette

For the pastry,

Flour, 2 cups

Icing sugar, 1/4 cup

Chilled butter, 125g

Egg, 1

Milk, 1 tbsp

Lemon, zest from 1

For the topping,

Apples, 3 medium

Sugar, 3 tbsp

Butter, 2 tbsp melted

Ice cream or whipped cream to serve

Sift the flour and sugar into a bowl. Icing sugar works best but cane sugar will also work. Chop the butter into small cubes and add to the flour mix. Rub the butter into the flour and use your fingertips to crush until it resembles breadcrumbs.

In a separate bowl whisk the egg and milk together and then add the zest. Pour into the flour mix and bring it together with your hands until it forms a ball of dough. Be careful not to overmix otherwise the pastry will be chewy instead of crumbly.

Cling film the bowl and leave in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 180C or 160C with a fan. On a dusted surface roll out the pastry 5mm thick. You can turn a large bowl upside down and cut around it using a knife.

Slice the apples into thin slices about 5mm thick and arrange into a circle so that each slice overlaps another. Repeat this with all the apple right into the centre. Then sprinkle with 2 tbsp of sugar and brush with the melted butter. Fold up the edges of the pastry, pinching it gently all way around around the galette.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until the galette has turned golden brown in colour.

While the galette is baking, place the remaining apple cores into a small pot with a few tablespoons of water and 1 tbsp of sugar. Simmer gently. Once you have pulled the galette from the oven, pour the syrup over top of the apples. Serve with ice cream.