Description
A classic French, golden buttery puff pastry filled with creamy frangipane, a hidden prize, and symbolic meaning.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Frangipane
- 1 cup almond flour
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- .5 cup sugar
- .25 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons softened unsalted butter, cut into one-half-inch pieces
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons of your choice of extract, such as almond, vanilla, or rum.
Galette
- 2 sheets of ready-to-bake puff pastry, thawed (about one hour)
- 1 whole almond, pecan, walnut, dried bean, or tiny plastic baby, optional
- 1 large egg
- pinch of table salt
Glaze
- 1.5 tablespoons of granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon water
- .5 teaspoon cane syrup
Instructions
- Mix almond and all-purpose flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl for the almond frangipane filling.
- Cut the softened butter into the flour mixture with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles cornmeal.
- Beat the eggs in a small, separate bowl, then stir them into the flour-butter mixture along with the extract. (Lumps of butter will be present in the filling.)
- Place the bowl of frangipane cream in the refrigerator or freezer to chill. You don't want the filling to be at room temperature, or it will leak out of the galette during baking.
- Place two pieces of parchment paper on two baking trays, place each pastry sheet on the paper, and roll it into a 10-inch square using a floured rolling pin.
- Fold one puff pastry square in half and lay it over the other. Place a 9.5-inch bowl over it, then cut away the excess pastry around the bowl with a sharp knife to form two large circles. Store excess pastry for another use.
- Fold the top layer of the pastry over in half, then remove it and place it back on its parchment paper in the baking tray.
- Beat the remaining egg with salt, then brush the egg wash along the edge of the pastry, leaving a 1-inch border, all around the bottom layer of pastry.
- Spread the cold filling over the bottom layer of the pastry, leaving a one-inch margin of egg wash at the edge of the circle. This acts like glue, helping the pastry stick together.
- Randomly place the nut, bean, or tiny baby on the frangipane.
- Fold the other pastry round in half, unfold it over the bottom layer and filling, and crimp the edges with a fork; go around twice or thrice to ensure the edges are sealed, and the filling won't leak out during baking.
- Freeze the galette for 30 minutes.
- After about 20 minutes of freezing, place the rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375° F.
- Remove the galette from the freezer and brush the remaining egg wash all over the pastry.
- Use an ice pick or toothpick to make a hole in the center of the top layer of the galette, then make about 8 to 10 more holes evenly spaced across the top so air can escape while baking.
- Take the pick and make curving lines from the center to the edge over the top for a decorative pattern, spaced about 1/4 to 1/8 inch apart. The design may look like the spokes of a wheel or a pinwheel.
- Place in the oven and bake at 375° F for 20 minutes.
- While the galette is baking, make the glaze (simple syrup) in the microwave by combining the sugar, water, and syrup in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 60 seconds on high, stirring once after 30 seconds.
- Turn the oven off after the galette finishes baking, remove the pastry from the oven, brush the glaze on with a pastry brush, and then set it back in the oven for 10 more minutes to let the glaze dry.
- Remove it from the oven and let it cool on a rack before serving on a cake plate.
Notes
- The frangipane and the assembled galette will work best when they are as cold as possible. A room-temperature filling will leak out of the galette during baking. Refrigerating the filling also helps keep it from reaching the 1-inch border around the edge when spreading it over the bottom pastry layer.
- It is essential to crimp the two pastry rounds together with the tines of a fork all around the edges. Do this twice or thrice to ensure the filling does not leak out during baking.
