Cherry and almond galette recipe
This simple, rustic tart combines cherries and an irresistible almond pastry. It'll make a great centrepiece dessert. Serve with single (light) cream, crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream.
Tip: You can also make the pastry by hand, by rubbing the butter into the flour and almonds, using your fingertips. Pastry likes a cool environment. If your kitchen is hot, the butter in the pastry will melt and it’ll be hard to handle. Pop it in the refrigerator for 10 minutes to cool down.
Ingredients
For the pastry- 75 g ground almonds
- 150 g plain (all-purpose) flour, plus extra for dusting
- 2 tbsp caster sugar, plus an extra 0.5tsp for scattering
- 1 pinch fine sea salt
- 100 g unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
- 3 drops of almond essence (optional)
- 2 tbsp iced water
- 1 egg, beaten, for glazing
- 300 g cherries, halved and stoned
- 1 tsp cornflour (cornstarch)
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
- 1 small squeeze of lemon juice
- 1 pinch sea salt
Details
- Cuisine: Californian
- Recipe Type: Dessert
- Difficulty: Medium
- Preparation Time: 30 mins
- Cooking Time: 30 mins
- Serves: 8
Step-by-step
- To make the pastry, pulse the almonds, flour, sugar and salt in a food processor to combine. Pulse in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Blitz in a few drops of almond essence (if using) and the iced water until it forms a ball.
- Turn the dough out onto the work surface and gently bring it together with your hands. Place on a large sheet of baking parchment and cover with another large sheet of parchment. Press out the dough with your hands to a circle roughly 20cm (8in) in diameter. Chill for 30 minutes (or longer on a hot day).
- Preheat a fan oven to 160˚C/320˚F/gas mark 4 and put a large baking sheet in the oven to heat up.
- Toss the cherries with the cornflour (to thicken up any excess juices and preventing the base of the pastry from becoming too wet), sugar, lemon juice and salt. You may want to add more or less sugar depending on the sweetness of your fruit.
- Roll out the pastry between the parchment to make a circle about 30cm (12in) in diameter (roughly 3mm (1/8in) thick). Lift off the top layer of parchment.
- Pile up the fruit in the middle of the pastry, aiming to leave a 5cm (2in) border.
- Bring the pastry edges up and around the fruit, leaving a gap in the middle so you can see the fruit. Brush the exposed pastry with a little beaten egg and sprinkle over the extra sugar.
- Carefully slide the galette, still on the parchment, onto the hot baking sheet.
- Bake for about 30 minutes until the pastry is golden. Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes. Serve it warm or at room temperature.
This recipe is from California: Living + Eating by Eleanor Maidment (Hardie Grant, £22). Photography by Nassima Rothacker.
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