If homemade apple pie seems like a big leap for you, this Easy Apple Galette with Salted Maple Caramel Drizzle will be right up your alley. With simple, delicious ingredients and minimal baking skill required, this is an easy holiday dessert we can all get behind.
Your body’s biological response to “fight or flight” is to get your inner carbs ready to go so that whichever option you choose, running from an elephant stampede or fighting it, you’ll have the energy. And whichever side you fall on, this week has been a tumultuous rollercoaster of fighting and flighting in America, so for the good of the country…let’s carb up.
Today’s carb-provider is an Easy Apple Galette, with cinnamon and the best darn salted maple caramel sauce since the invention of salted caramel. With minimal spare time now a days (especially as we head into holiday season), I wanted to share a homemade dessert with you that doesn’t require loads of skill or patience. So let’s galette!
If the galette was a person, it’d be the one who “dresses down”, but somehow still looks more fashionable than everybody else. The one who isn’t keen on planning, and figures everything will work out in the end. The galette is your solution to the holidays: trendy, easy, damn delicious.
Tips for making this apple galette
Good flour: Quality, all-purpose flour is so important for tasty baked goods! I used Bob’s Red Mill Organic Unbleached White Flour.
Keep it cold: You want the butter and dough to stay as cold as possible throughout the process. This helps to define the thin layers of butter and flour, which leads to a nice flaky crust.
Brandy crust: Say what? Yes! Adding a touch of alcohol to your crust acts as a “shortener”. It keeps the gluten strands short, which means a more tender, flaky crust!
Don’t be a perfectionist: The beauty of the galette is in its’ nonchalant nature. Go wild with it and put your perfectionist tendencies in time out.
More galette recipes you might like
Ingredients
Filling
- 3 Granny Smith apples 350 g, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar 25 g
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp lemon juice 5 mL
- 1 Tbsp flour 8 g
- 2 Tbsp almond paste* 25 g, homemade or store bought
- Dab of butter
Dough
- 1 1/2 cups Bob’s Red Mill all-purpose flour 190 g
- 2 Tbsp sugar + more for sprinkling on top 25 g
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup cold 1 stick, 115 g, unsalted butter, cubed
- 2 Tbsp ice water 30 mL
- 2 Tbsp cold apple or apricot brandy** 30 mL, or 2 more Tbsp water
- 1 large egg beaten
Salted Maple Caramel (you’ll have some leftover)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup 60 mL
- 1/4 cup sugar 50 g
- 2 Tbsp water 30 mL
- 1/4 cup heavy cream 60 mL
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter 28 g
- 1/4 tsp flaky sea salt
Instructions
- Filling: Gently combine sliced apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice, and flour. Set aside.
- Dough: In a large bowl combine flour, 2 Tbsp sugar, and salt. Using a pastry cutter or your hands, combine cold butter into the flour just until the mixture is coarsely combined and pea sized. Sprinkle ice water and brandy over the dough, then use a rubber spatula to fold the dough until it holds together (try to work the dough as little as possible). Shape the dough into an 8 inch wide disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for an hour (or up to 2 days).
- Caramel: In a heavy saucepan, combine syrup, sugar, and water. Cook over medium heat, until the water has cooked out and the mixture reaches a deep amber color (5 to 10 minutes), being careful not to stir the pan, just swirling occasionally. When it reaches your desired level or darkness, slowly stir in the cream, then the butter. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly before adding salt to your taste. Set aside until ready to use.
- Assemble: On a flour surface, roll dough into about a 12 inch circle, then transfer to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle clumps of almond paste evenly over the dough, leaving 2 inches around the outside free for folding. Arrange apples (not their juices) on top, trying to arrange them as flat as possible. Fold free dough over the apples. Brush whisked egg over the dough and sprinkle it with sugar, throw a few dabs of butter over the apples. Bake at 400 degrees F (204 C) for about 45 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. Drizzle with caramel sauce and serve warm.
Tips & Tricks
- *This just adds a whole new, zingy dimension to the galette, but if it’s a hassle, skip it.
- **You can sub in vodka. Alcohol helps to make the crust more tender.
Nutrition Information
Thanks to Bob’s Red Mill for sponsoring this post!
Keith @ How's it Lookin? says
Looks delicious. The caramel drizzle sounds amazing, thanks a lot