Peach and Blackberry Galette

I know I do a lot of desserts on this site, but that’s mostly because I forget to take pictures of the food I make on a daily basis. And who likes reading recipes without pictures?? I refuse to buy a cookbook if it doesn’t have a picture every five pages at least. So again, I present to you, a dessert. And I’ve decided to dedicate this dessert to Scotty, because of the awful day when he spilled water on his computer. This will perk you right up, no matter what (especially with a little ice cream).

It’s called a galette, although to my roommates and friends I just call it a pie, it’s easier to explain. Now I know, you’re thinking, “Galette?! He’s in college! There’s no way high quality French desserts are coming out of that kitchen.” Ah my friend, your skepticism only invigorates me to prove you wrong. And aside from my less than par dough pinching skills, I believe I have (the sauce leaked and some burned, oops). This is my first venture into “pie-making” and making my own dough from scratch. I suppose the term du-jour would be Pâte Brisée, my thanks to Martha Stewart. Sure, I’ve made Christmas cookies with my Mom and baked cakes and whatnot, but dough and batter are worlds apart (I’ll even, one day, let you into my bread making experiment. It will be filed under the “disasters” category).

So here it is, my “pick-me-up” dessert that takes more prep than work, and provides you with that satisfying, refreshing sentiment that just makes you think of good times and good company. Enjoy!

Pâte Brisée (Adapted from Martha Stewart, discovered on smittenkitchen.com)

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water

In a food processor, mix the flour, sugar and salt, pulsing to combine. Add in the butter pieces, and pulse until the mixture resembles small crumbs with some larger pieces remaining. About 10-15 seconds; do not overmix. Slowly and with the machine running, add in the water through the spout on your processor until the mixture just comes together. Do not add too much; the amount will be dependent on the humidity of where you are working. Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface, and divide in half. Place each half on plastic wrap, forming into small discs. Wrap in the plastic and refrigerate at least one hour, but preferably overnight. The mixture can be frozen for up to a month in advance.

Peach and Blackberry Galette (Adapted from smittenkitchen.com)

½ the Pâte Brisée recipe
3 medium peaches, pitted and cut into 16(ish) pieces each
½ pint of Blackberries
¼ cup white sugar
1 ½ teaspoons cornstarch
1 egg, beaten well
Raw or coarse sugar crystals

Roll out one disk of dough on a well floured sheet of parchment paper into a 12” round disk of even thickness, rotating occasionally to prevent sticking. Slide a rimless baking sheet under (or the backside of a rimmed one) and refrigerate for about an hour, until firm.

In a large bowl, mix the sugar, cornstarch, blackberries and peaches. Stir to coat, and let sit for about 30 minutes or until the juices come out of the fruit. Once this is done, preheat your oven to 375o.

Take your dough from the refrigerator, and place the fruit mixture in the center of the disk you made, leaving about 3” on all sides. Working quickly, pinch up the edges into vertical crimps taking care to seal everything so juice won’t run out during cooking. Brush the now upturned side with the egg, and sprinkle with the raw sugar crystals. Bake for 55 minutes, or until the crust is browned and the juices are bubbly. Take out and let cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes and serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Serves 4 – 6. Enjoy!!

Cranberry Orange Squares

In my latest perusal of food blogs, I discovered fruit bars that slightly resembled coffee cake. You have no idea how excited I was. I’ve never really made anything that involved a “crumble” before, and was excited to try something new - little did I know that I would be spending 30 minutes mashing cold sticks of butter into flour and sugar with a fork. My wrists have yet to forgive me…perhaps I should lay off the typing for a bit.

I ran into a slight problem when I got back from the store. In my infinite wisdom (and 1.5 hours of sleep), I returned from the store with dried fruits instead of fresh...and cranberries instead of blueberries. Fail. So I tried to make the best of it by reconstituting the dried fruits in hot water for about an hour, and giving up the butter-mashing when my hand went numb. I’m all about compromise. I started thinking about what lemon and cranberry would taste like together. What I came up with was something awfully bitter, and terrible. Oranges always make life better, so we go with oranges!! After all, orange-cranberry is something relatively normal.

Lucky for me, my improvisational skills are better than I thought.

Cranberry-Orange Crumble Squares (Adapted from AllRecipes.com, discovered on SmittenKitchen.com)

1 cup white sugar

3 cups AP flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 sticks of unsalted butter, cold

1 egg

½ cup white sugar

Zest and juice of 1 orange

4 teaspoons cornstarch

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups of dried Cranberries, reconstituted

Preheat oven to 375^oF. Grease a 9”x13” pan.

In a large bowl, combine flour, 1 cup of the white sugar, and the baking powder. Mix in the salt and orange zest. Using a fork or a pastry cutter, blend in the butter and the egg until a crumbly mixture is formed. In a medium sized bowl, combine the orange juice, cornstarch, and the other ½ cup of white sugar. Gently mix in the reconstituted cranberries. In the pan, pat down half of the crumble mixture in an even layer. Spoon the fruit mixture over the layer of crust, covering completely. Place the rest of the crumble on the top of the fruit layer covering completely. Bake for 45 minutes in the middle of the oven until golden brown (it may take another 10 minutes after the initial 45). Let cool completely and cut into squares. Makes about 48 1” squares.