A delightful match of peaches and strawberries enveloped in a flaky crust!
I know, I know. Here in the northern hemisphere, summer doesn’t end until late September. However, for me, it’s back to school on September 7, so to wrap up summer’s flavors, I’m making a simple fruit dessert: Peach Strawberry Galette (and of course you have to top it with some ice cream – and this one’s spiced)!
A galette is a French round, freeform cake. However, it contains a crust very similar to a pie crust. I make mine with a traditional pâte sucrée, a sweet, rich short pastry. The main component of the crust? COLD butter (and I emphasize cold), which makes it super flaky and crunchy with every bite.
Peaches and strawberries are like peaches and cream, graham crackers and marshmallows, or peanut butter and chocolate. The colors even contrast each other so well; check out these flowers!
Galettes are probably one of my new favorite dishes because you can basically put anything in them. They remind me of crêpes – make them savory or sweet, add meat or nutella, vegetables or cinnamon sugar, and you have a delicious main course or dessert! For fall, I’m thinking a butternut squash galette with broccoli rabe – or maybe kale…hmmmm… 🙂
Spiced. Anything spiced is so good, in my opinion. Gingerbread cookies, spicy noodles – yum! If you don’t prefer the spiced vanilla ice cream (all that’s added is some ground cinnamon), feel free to leave it out. It’s purely optional.
I added demerara sugar to the exterior, but a really crunchy addition to this galette would be to add slivered almonds, or a caramelized nut (caramelized pecans!) to the top before baking. Mix the nuts with a little cinnamon sugar, or just demerara or turbinado sugar, and the galette is taken to a whole other dimension. If you’re wondering, demerara sugar is a cane sugar from Guyana that has a pale amber color. I love its larger granules because they add extra sweetness and texture to the galette (add it to crêpes!).
I’ll leave you with three tips to avoid common mistakes that are made when preparing a galette:
1. Don’t be alarmed if the dough is a bit sandy/crumbly or dry when mixed in the food processor
Don’t worry – the dough will come together when you pack it into a disk to refrigerate.You can always add more ice water, but you cannot remove the water once it’s already incorporated into the dough.
2. Add a thickener like cornstarch or flour to prevent the crust from becoming a mushy mess
Trust me – adding just a tablespoon of thickener makes all the difference when you dig into the crust, and bite into flaky goodness rather than a soggy tart
3. Put an end to burned bottoms
315? F for 30-35 minutes is the perfect temperature and time to bake this galette.All ovens are different so if you know your oven tends to warm up to a higher temperature, simply decrease the prescribed temperature by 15-20? F, and vice versa.
This dessert is the epitome of freedom – free open the dough, add your choice of fruit, and serve with your favorite toppings. Very few desserts beat its versatility 🙂
Peach Strawberry Galette with Spiced Vanilla Ice Cream
Vanilla Ice Cream
- 1 pint of vanilla ice cream
- 2 tbsp of ground cinnamon
Pâte Sucrée
- 1-3/4 cups of all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp of white, granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup of unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- 1 large egg
- 1/8 cup of cold water
Fruit Filling
- 1 cup of peaches, chopped
- 1-1/2 cups of strawberries
- 1 tbsp of cornstarch or flour
- 1 tsp of white, granulated sugar
Topping
- créme fraîche ((optional))
- demerara sugar ((optional))
- Allow vanilla ice cream to soften to room temperature. Add cinnamon to ice cream, and mix well. Freeze for 4-5 hours, or until ice cream and hard again.
- Beat egg and water together. Mix flour, sugar, and cold butter in a food processor until mixture resembles sand. Add egg and water mixture to food processor. Blend until just combined, roll dough into a disk, and refrigerate for 30-45 minutes, or in the freezer for up to 1 week.
- Preheat oven to 315? F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Mix all filling ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside. Remove dough from fridge, and roll out to 1/4 inch thick on a well-floured surface. Add filling to center of dough. Wrap edges of dough onto filling. Leave a center circle bare with no dough topping.
- Spread créme fraîche over the top of galette (only on dough part). Sprinkle demerara sugar over top of galette as well. Place galette onto baking sheet, and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until top and edges are golden brown. Serve warm with spiced vanilla ice cream, and enjoy!