For those who know me and my family, it comes as no surprise that I am in the middle of cherry season. You may think that since I spend long days around cherries, the last thing I want to do is see the fruit when I come home. While that could be true, I would not be able to make one of my favorite cherry desserts, Cherry & Almond Galette.
It may be sacrilege in my family, but at one time, I did not care for cherry pies. Many of the pies from my childhood had shortening as the fat in the pastry. What turned me off was the texture or the “greasiness” that the pastry had. It wasn’t until I began making my own pies, and switched to butter, that I began to appreciate pies.
A few years ago, I discovered galettes, the simple and rustic single pastry desserts. Since I still had a little aversion to pies, galettes became my pie substitute. When finding my way with the pastry, I began to add and change ingredients. The following recipe for my galette features sweet cherries and is complimented with almonds in the crust. It also has amaretto liquor in the crust, which gives the pastry a unique flavor.
Cherry & Almond Galette
Serves 8
Ingredients for the dough
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
• 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds
• 2 to 4 tablespoons amaretto liquor
• Ice
Step 1: Measure flour into a bowl. Cut the cold butter into cubes and place on a small parchment lined plate. Place the flour and butter into the freezer to chill for at least one hour.
Step 2: In a food processor, combine flour, salt, sugar and sliced almonds; pulse until the almond slices are small and well incorporated. Pour the amaretto liquor over the ice and allow to chill.
Step 3: Add butter to the flour mixture; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few small pieces of butter remaining.
Step 4: Add two tablespoons chilled amaretto liquor and pulse until dough is crumbly. If it does not come together after a few more pulses, add more of the liquid, 1/2 tablespoon at a time, until it does. Remove dough from food processor, place onto plastic wrap and press into a disk. Fold plastic over the dough and refrigerate at least one hour to firm
Ingredients for the galette
• 3 cups (1 1/4 pounds) cherries, sliced in half and pitted
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon milk
• Almonds for pastry garnish
Step 1: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Stir together sugar and cornstarch. Pour mixture over pitted cherry halves and toss.
Step 2: Flour your work surface and rolling pin. Roll the dough into a 10-inch round and transfer the dough to the baking sheet.
Step 3: Arrange cherry mixture in the center of the dough, leaving a 2-inch border. Fold up the dough to cover the edges of the fruit, leaving the center open. Brush crust edge with milk and top with almond slices to garnish.
Step 4: Place the galette on the lower middle rack in the oven and bake until golden brown and bubbling in center, about 40 to 50 minutes. Allow the galette to cool on the baking sheet 15 minutes if serving warm or cool completely to serve later. The galette may be warmed in a 350 oven for seven minutes prior to serving.
Mitch L. Mariani II is a self-taught amateur chef. Questions, comments and suggestions can be directed to him through e-mail at [email protected].
