Buttery crunchy crust with soft sweet Berries
About the Galettes:
A galette is a french dessert that traditionally involves some form of a flat pastry topped with fruit. Often galettes are one large pastry which gets cut like a pie in slices. However, this recipe makes mini rounds instead of one large one!
The galette dough/crust is similar to that of a pie; flaky, buttery, and perfect with an egg wash and sugar coated:)
The fruit is as simple as it gets. It tastes just like a compote. The fruit is left simple to keep its natural flavour the star. All it requires is a bit of sugar and cornstarch added with some acidity from a lemon or orange and then it’s done!
Topped with ice cream or whipping cream eaten with a fork/knife or by hand (easier with these mini ones) and the galette is a fresh french dessert!
The Method:
The dough: 5 ingredients for this dough! consisting of flour, salt, sugar, cold unsalted butter, and sour cream. Well mixed until it forms a ball and that’s all it takes.
Freezing: The dough then gets separated into 8 mini balls and wrapped in plastic wrap to be refrigerated for about 1 hour or 30 mins in the freezer. This will help the gluten relax, make it easier to roll out, and ultimately make sure the galettes come out of the oven roughly the same size/shape as they go in.
Rolling discs: Once out of the fridge/freezer the balls get rolled into mini discs about 1/4 inch thick.
The fruit: the mixed berries fresh or frozen get lightly tossed in a bowl with a small amount of sugar, cornstarch, and acidity. Either lemon or orange juice works. The fruit gets placed in the middle of the discs and the edges get rolled up and pinched so the fruit has a border and will not slide away.
The egg-wash: to make these galettes crunchy an egg is brushed on the outsides and course sugar is topped.
Bake and top: the galettes are then baked at 375 degrees F for ~ 30-40 minutes and topped with powdered sugar and ice cream!
Crucial ingredients:
Sour cream: this adds ample fat to the dough as sour cream is one of the fattiest diary ingredients among milk, cream, buttermilk etc. This fat allows the gluten strands from the flour in the dough to stay short. Essentially making the dough tender and flaky!
Unsalted butter cold: refrigerating or freezing should not be skipped! it is so important for the butter to be cold. This helps retain shape making the outcome look similar to the pre-baked shape.
Cornstarch/acidity: In order to make sure the fruit does not become a soupy liquid mess the cornstarch absorbs that liquid. The acidity of lemon or orange also adds great flavour.
The Recipe:
Mini Mixed Berry Galettes
| Prep time | Bake time | Total time |
| 1 hour | ~30-40 mins | ~1 40 mins |
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1/2 cups unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1 egg *for egg wash*
- 2 cups frozen or fresh mixed berries
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon orange or lemon juice
Procedure:
Prepare the dough: in a medium bowl, mix together the flour, salt, and sugar. Once well combined add in the unsalted butter in cubes and the sour cream. Use two knives, a pastry blender, a fork, or your fingers to mix in the butter until small pea clumps are left and it appears incorporated. use the sour cream to help the butter mix in easier. Once done the dough should be a large ball.
Separate the dough into 8 equal balls the best you can. Wrap each in plastic wrap. Chill the dough for 1 hour in the fridge or 30 mins in the freezer.
Once it is getting closer to the end time of the chilling process for the dough, start making the filling and preheat the oven to 375 Degrees F.
For the filling: in a medium bowl add the frozen or fresh berries and add the cornstarch and acidity. gently mix with a fork and set aside.
On a lightly floured flat surface roll out each ball of dough into 8 separate discs about 1/4 inch thick. Place these discs on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Place about 2 tablespoons of the fruit in the centre of the dough disc. fold the edges up and pinch them as you would for pie crust. Brush with egg wash and top with course sugar!
Bake the galettes at 375 Degrees F for 30-40 mins until golden!
Enjoy!
Happy Baking
