There is definitely fun going on in Dee’s Kitchen this summer. We are loving Galettes. What’s not to love? They take the stress out of baking because they are so simple to make. I also love a recipe that is so versatile. You can make the Galette with many different ingredients, sweet or savory. Because they are so easy to make, it has been a great way to involve my kids more in the kitchen. They also seem to really enjoy it. My daughter said she loved working in the kitchen with me and how she is learning to make new recipes. That is just music to my ears!
Having such an abundant selection of fruits this time of year allows the kids to be creative with their ingredient selection. Maybe, just maybe it will get them to try and taste a new fruit. One can only hope! This time, my son got to pick out the fruit he wanted to bake with. He picked cherries. I was very happy with his choice. We don’t buy too many cherries in my house, other than my son’s favorite, Maraschino Cherries. You know the ones; they are a preserved, sweetened cherry, typically made from light-colored sweet cherries. You see them in most bars today; they typically serve them in specialty drinks & cocktails. My son loves to order a Shirley Temple drink and he’ll request extra cherries. He also likes to top his ice cream with a few cherries or better yet, he would simply pop them in his mouth! When he picked cherries for our Galette, I had to tell him that we would be using fresh cherries and not his Maraschino cherries.
Fresh Cherries
While picking out our cherries, my son and I remembered that fresh cherries have pits in them. I looked at the 2 lbs. of cherries and at my son and told him if we do a Cherry Galette we will have to figure out a way to get those tiny pits out of each and every cherry! I happily came across a cherry pitter. I almost didn’t care how much it cost. I just knew we had to have it.
My Son trying out our new Cherry Pitter!
I would highly recommend getting one of these gadgets if you plan to make anything with this amount of fresh cherries. I think it would also be great to pit olives. It worked great on the cherries. My son pitted those 2 lbs. of cherries in no time. He had a blast using it too. He thought it was so cool to try out a new kitchen gadget.
Up close & personal w/these sugar coated beauties!
Our Cherry Galette turned out beautifully. It is rustic yet decadent enough for company. The berries were slightly sweet with a touch of vanilla. The crust was perfectly flaky. During a recent visit to a local farm and creamery, my son and I discovered the most amazing ice creams. We picked up some of their Lemon Sugar Cookie Ice Cream which complimented our Cherry Galette perfectly.
Cherry Galette
Makes approx. 8 Servings
Ingredients
2 lbs., Fresh Cherries
3 Tablespoons, Sugar
1 Teaspoon, Pure Vanilla Extract
1 Tablespoon, Cornstarch
1, PieDough, *store-bought or homemade
Ice Cream *We bought a Lemon Sugar Cookie Ice Cream
Confectioner’s Sugar, to dust the Galette
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place a Silpat sheet onto the baking sheet. If you do not have a Silpat you can use Parchment paper. Set the tray aside.
Place the cherries in a colander and rinse them well. Remove all the stems and pit all the cherries.
Look at those beauties!
Place the cleaned & pitted cherries into a mixing bowl. Add the sugar, cornstarch and vanilla and mix well. Toss the cherries to evenly coat them. Let them sit for about 15 minutes. While they are sitting, you’ll start to see juice in the bowl. Stir the cherries a few times to coat the fruit with that juice. The cornstarch will help to thicken up the juice as the cherries soak it up and once it bakes.
Coating the Cherries
Roll out a pie crust and place it onto the Silpat (onto your baking sheet). Place the cherries onto the pie crust. Now, I know it might be tempting to keep and use all that yummy cherry juice in the bowl. However, you will want to leave the extra juice in the bowl and discard it. If you add that to the Galette it will end up running out when baked. When placing the fruit onto the pie dough, leave about a 2″ border around the edge (you’ll need that space to fold up the edges). If your cherries are rolling all around, add just enough to the center of the dough until you start to fold up the edges. You can always add cherries to the center and in spaces that need more fruit as you fold the dough. Next, go ahead and start folding up the edges and pinch together as you go along. Go ahead and fold it anyway you like; the more rustic the look, the better. If you see any cracks or tears in the dough just pinch them together or try to take a piece of dough from the top edge to cover any holes. Otherwise, you’ll have cherry juice running out of your Galette when it bakes. If you have leftover cherries in your bowl, go ahead and fill in the gaps. Trust me, you’ll want to use the entire 2 lbs. of fruit. It will slightly bake down in the oven.
Sides all folded up
Brush the crust with some maple syrup and sprinkle a sparkling sugar all over crust and on top of the berries.
Brushing the edges w/Maple Syrup
Getting all sparkly!
Bake in the oven for approx. 50 minutes, until the crust is nice and golden brown and the cherries are bubbly. Remove the Cherry Galette from the oven and set aside to cool.
Fresh out of the oven
Once the Galette has cooled, sprinkle the Confectioner’s Sugar over top. You can add as much or as little as you like. It gives it a very pretty finish. You could also garnish with some fresh mint leaves if you like.
Finishing w/a dusting of Confectioner’s Sugar
Slice and serve! That is it. Super simple and very delicious! We served our Cherry Galette with a side of Lemon Sugar Cookie Ice Cream.
Mangia! Enjoy!
Notes
To make homemade Pie Dough click here: Pie dough by Emma