A spiced apple galette that celebrates the quintessential flavors of fall.
The best of the season's fresh apple bounty pairs with warming spices and a buttery flaky crust for a deliciously colorful and rustic galette.
Galettes: invented to make amateur bakers feel like pros. They provide all the benefits of pie, from the crust to the tender filling, without any of the fuss. Think pie's messier and more laid back and chill cousin.
It's the galette that celebrates every color of the apple rainbow.
Why This Recipe Works
- Full of Fall Flavors. Apples pair with cinnamon and nutmeg to create a galette bursting with the quintessential flavors of the season.
- Rustic. Pastry dough, with minimal shaping, is wrapped around fresh fruit, no precision or perfection necessary.
- Literally easier than pie! Galettes provide all the benefits of pie without any of the fuss.
Food tastes best grown in its own season.
The apple harvest in California begins in mid-July and continues throughout the fall. During this time, the over 700 farmers markets in the state are overflowing with apple diversity.
Worldwide, there are more than 7,500 known varieties of apples, 100 of which are grown commercially in the US. They all differ in shape, size, color, texture, aroma and flavor.
Worldwide, there's over 7,500 known varieties of apples. They differ in size, color, texture, aroma and flavor. 2,500 of which are grown in the US but only about 100 are grown commercially. 90% of apple production in the US consists of just 15 varieties. Supermarkets generally carry the exact same 5-10 kinds.
To enjoy the full range of apple varieties, head to your local farmers market in the early fall.
Note: Even apples with pink flesh exist!
What is a Galette?
A galette is pie's messier, more laid-back cousin. Open-faced – just dough folded up around whatever filling you've got, sweet or savory, baked until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbling.
The French call it galette. The Italians call it crostata. Same thang, different accent.
The truly magical quality of a galette is that it's imperfectly perfect. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface – or don't even bother doing it in one piece. My favorite trick: lay parchment on a tart pan and build the crust directly on it, piece by piece, pinching the dough together with your fingers until it holds. No one will ever know. Pile on the filling, fold the edges over, sprinkle with sugar, and bake. Same technique every season. Change the filling, keep the method.
How to Make this Galette Recipe
- Make dough in stand mixer or food processor (or use store bought). If making dough from scratch, let chill. If using store bought, let thaw out.
- Roll dough out. Galette is free form (can be rolled into either a round or rectangle or any shape in between), transfer to a baking sheet/tray. Chill in fridge while prepping apples.
- Thinly slice apples. Either a colorful mix or a single kind.
- To achieve the rainbow-ombre apple affect: group apples by color.
- Sprinkle apples with cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar; brush with melted butter and vanilla.
- Fold edges over; brush them with butter-vanilla mixture, sprinkle with more spices and sugar.
- Bake until apples are soft, (almost jammy like) and cooked through, the fruit juices are bubbling, and the crust is a deep golden-brown.
Don't worry about precision or even-ness when assembling. Rather embrace galettes inner chill. Whatever shape it rolls out to be is perfectly imperfect.
Optional: create an ombre or rainbow apple effect when assembling.
Note: This recipe calls for apples but almost any firm fruit in season such as pears will work too! Just keep in mind that tart fruits need more sugar that sweet fruit.
Ingredients: Cinnamon & Nutmeg
Cinnamon: Not all cinnamon is harvested equally.
Cinnamon is separated into two main categories (though there's hundreds of types): cassia cinnamon and Ceylon cinnamon. They taste and smell differently.
Most of what we call cinnamon in the US is cassia cinnamon from Indonesia (there's also Chinese and Saigon cassia). It's bold and sweet and spicy.
Ceylon cinnamon, commonly called "real" cinnamon, is native to Sri Lanka. The flavor is much more mild, subtle, and delicate and far less spicy with warmer floral notes.
Learn where your cinnamon comes from.
Nutmeg: This nutty, slightly sweet, and intense spice has a strong and distinct aroma and comes in two forms: ground or whole.
It is the seed from a dark-leaved evergreen tree, which is also cultivated for mace.
For best flavor, use freshly grated nutmeg. It will impart a fresher, cleaner taste than using the pre-ground stuff.
These wildly fragrant spices, associated with fall, will keep your cozy and warm all season long!
Cooks Tips
- When possible, buy local apples grown sustainably.
- For most flavorful results, use freshly grated whole nutmeg.
- Be sure to start with very cold butter for the flakiest and most delicate pastry dough.
- Dough must chill in the fridge at least 2 hours and up to 2 days; it will keep up to a month in the freezer.
- Embrace galettes inner chill and don't worry about perfection when assembling.
- The galette tastes best straight from the oven, served warm.
- Serve galette with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whip cream.
- Store any leftovers at room temperature, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, for up to 2 days.
Celebrate the best of seasons fresh apple bounty with this colorful and very easy-to-make rustic apple galette!
Apple Galette
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 1 cup all-purpose flour plus more for surface
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 8 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter cut into pieces
- 1 large egg beaten to blend
For the Apple Filling
- 4-7 apples in different or the same colors about 1.5 pounds
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon divided
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg divided
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
Instructions
- To make the galette dough: pulse the flour, sugar and salt together in a food processor fitted with the blade attachment until combined. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Drizzle egg and pulse until a ball just begins to come together.
- Form dough into a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, at least 2 hours.
- Pre-heat oven to 400 F.
- Once chilled, remove the dough on a lightly floured surface. Cover a baking sheet/tray/dish with parchment paper. Either roll the entire dough out and transfer to parchment paper or roll out sections at a time and build the galette crust directly on the parchment paper, using your hands to pinch the pieces together. Chill back in the fridge while prepping apples.
- Thinly slice apples into roughly 1/8 thick slices or use a mandolin. Arrange the apples slices on top of dough by color (optional); gently fold edges of dough around apples.
- Sprinkle apples with granulated sugar, 1.5 teaspoons of cinnamon and ¾ teaspoon of nutmeg.
- Melt butter; off heat add vanilla and brush apples with 3 tablespoons of the mixture.
- Brush crust with remaining tablespoon of vanilla-butter mixture, sprinkle with brown sugar and remaining cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Bake, rotating once, until apples are soft and jammy and the crust is golden-brown, 40-50 minutes.
Notes
- When possible, buy local apples grown sustainably.
- For most flavorful results, use freshly grated whole nutmeg.
- Be sure to start with very cold butter for the flakiest and most delicate pastry dough.
- Dough must chill in the fridge at least 2 hours and up to 2 days; it will keep up to a month in the freezer.
- Embrace galettes inner chill and don’t worry about perfection when assembling.
- The galette tastes best straight from the oven, served warm.
- Serve galette with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whip cream.
- Store any leftovers at room temperature, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, for up to 2 days.
More Galette Recipes
Same dough, same fold, different filling — strawberries, blueberries, all the berries, and peaches in summer, rhubarb and strawberry rhubarb in spring, pears in fall, tomatoes when you want to go savory. Once you've made one galette, you'll know how to make them all.
Want More Cakes with Fresh Fruit Toppings?
There's a whole world of cakes with fresh seasonal fruit on top - here are my favorites: Fig Skillet Cake, Strawberry Snack Cake, Almond-Rhubarb Cake, Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake, Plum, Walnut & Lavender Cake and Plum Upside-Down Cake. There's a special place in my heart for cakes with whole, fresh, seasonal fruit toppings.
And if you want more apple inspiration, check out my Apple Cake - or go deep on the fruit itself with my Rainbow Apples and Pink Apples guides.
If ya tried this apple galette, I’d love to hear – leave a comment below and tag me on IG, @danielagerson, so I can see too!
There's a whole lot more seasonal recipes and colorful produce guides waiting for ya on the site.
Let's make waves in the kitchen.
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