This Galette is filled with tender, delicately spiced apples and baked until the crust is beautifully golden and flaky. Serve with a scoop of vegan ice cream for an easy and delicious fall dessert.
Apple Galette is one of my favourite desserts to make during apple season! Galette, which translates to “flat cake,” is the name given to various types of free form, round or flat French pastries which are filled with different fruit fillings. It's essentially a shortcrust pastry dough wrapped over a filling typically made from fruit, butter, and sugar. A galette tastes just as delicious as an apple pie but requires half the effort to make! This simple yet elegant galette is made with a few basic ingredients, most of which you’ll already have at home, and it comes together in less than 30 minutes.
Why You Need to Make an Apple Galette
If you're a fan of apple pie, then chances are, you’ll love this Apple Galette. A galette is a lovely alternative to pie, not only is it much easier to make, it also takes much less time to bake. It's a less intimidating, approachable option for baking beginners, and the best part is, it doesn't have to look perfect, in fact, I think the more rustic it looks, the better. Another great reason to make a galette is that it’s made with the simplest ingredients and baking equipment, most of which you’ll already have at home, so you won’t need to add any fancy or expensive ingredients and kitchenware to your shopping list.
How does Apple Galette taste?
Just imagine it, a crisp, buttery and flaky crust topped with crunchy demerara sugar, and filled with tender, lightly tart, delicately spiced apples. What’s not the love about that?!
What Apples to use?
I’ve used Bramley apples for this recipe, but you can use other verities of apples. Bramley apples tend to be available all year round. They are of one of my favourite apples to use in baking and cooking as the they retain their flavour and texture very well. Other varieties of apples you could use are Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Golden Delicious and Rome, though you may need to add a bit of lemon juice to adjust the tartness.
Recipe Variations
Apple Galette is absolutely delicious as is but here are some fun ideas to jazz it up:
Caramel sauce: Replace the apricot jam with homemade or shop-bought caramel sauce for an extra depth of flavour. We all know apples and caramel are a match made in heaven!
Nuts: Sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts, pecans or walnuts 5 minutes before the galette is finished baking. The extra crunch will go beautifully with the sweet, tender apples.
Spices: I’ve used cinnamon in this recipe, but you can use other spices such as cardamom, allspice or nutmeg.
Extra fillings: For an even more decadent galette, you can spread a thin layer of peanut butter or biscoff spread before adding the sliced apples on top.
Cranberries: For a pop of colour and extra tartness, sprinkle over a few cranberries before baking.
Dough: Add 1 tsp of lemon or orange zest to the dough to give it a citrussy twist.
How to store Apple Galette
This galette is best eaten on the day its baked, as the crust will lose its crispness the longer it’s left to wait. If you’re not serving it right away, you can store it for 2-3 days in an airtight container at room temperature. I wouldn’t suggest storing it in the fridge as this case cause the crust to become too hard.
Can this Galette be frozen?
Yes, you can freeze Apple Galette, but as I’ve mentioned already, it's best when it’s served fresh. If you’re going to freeze it, place it in a container or wrap in in cling film, and store in the freezer for up to a month. To defrost, remove it from the freezer and leave out room temperature for around 4 hours, or until it’s thawed.
Can I use store-bought shortcrust pastry for this Galette?
Yes, ready-to-roll shortcrust pastry can be used instead of making your own, but I'm pretty sure it won’t taste as good as a homemade crust.
Apple Galette Ingredients
Here’s everything you’ll need for this recipe – consider it your shopping list!
For the Shortcrust pastry:
Plain flour: Used to make the galette crust. Make sure not to use self raising flour!
Sugar: The sugar will give the shortcrust pastry a subtle sweetness. You could use white granulated or caster sugar.
Vegan block butter: I used the Flora vegan butter block, but ant plant-based butter will do. using a block butter will give the shortcrust pastry a light and crumbly texture. I wouldn’t recommend using margarine as it won’t create the same outcome.
Oil – You'll need some vegetable or sunflower oil. The oil will help to give the pastry a flaky texture.
For the apple filling:
Apples: I’ve used Bramley apples for this recipe, but you can use other varieties of apples. Bramley apples tend to be available all year round. They are of one of my favourite apples to use in baking and cooking as the they retain their flavour and texture very well. Other apples you could use are Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Golden Delicious and Rome, though you may need to add a bit of lemon juice to adjust the tartness.
Sugar: I've used caster sugar as it dissolves faster than granulated sugar. I wouldn't recommend using fruit syrups as they'll darken the colour of the apples.
Vanilla extract: The vanilla extract gives the apples a lovely flavour and aroma.
Cinnamon: A bit of cinnamon will give the apples a lovely warming flavour and fragrance. You can use other spices such as cardamom, allspice or nutmeg.
Butter: You'll need some vegan butter to add on top of the apples to help the apples bake until beautifully tender.
Cornstarch: Cornstarch is used to thicken the the liquid from the apples, this will prevent the crust from becoming soggy while baking.
Demerara sugar: You'll need about 1 tbsp demerara to sprinkle on the galette crust and on top of the apples. The demerara sugar will add extra crispness of the crust and will caramelize the apples slightly.
Apricot jam: You'll need 1 tbsp melted apricot jam to use as a glaze once the galette has baked. It will give the apples a lovely sheen and will prevent them from drying out. If you don't have apricot jam, you could use other colourless jams or fruit syrups instead.
To serve:
Ice cream: To make this galette even more irresistible, serve it with a scoop of vegan ice cream.
How to make Apple Galette
STEP 1:
To make the shortcrust pastry, place the flour, sugar, salt, and vegan butter in a large bowl and rub together to reach a breadcrumb-like texture. Add 3-4 tbsp cold water to the bowl and mix until it comes together to form a dough. If you want to pastry to be be flaky and crisp, make sure not to overwork the dough. wrap the dough with cling film and place in fridge to chill for 15-20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180°C/356°F/gas mark 4.
STEP 2:
Wash and peel the apples. Slice the apples into roughly ¼ cm thick wedges. Add the apple slices to a bowl with the sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and corn-starch. Toss until the apple slices are evenly coated in the sugar, cinnamon and cornstarch.
STEP 3:
Lightly dust a clean surface with flour and roll the pastry out into roughly a 1/2 cm thick circle with a diameter of about 30cm, then lift away using a rolling pin and transfer to a large baking tray lined with baking paper. Align the apple slices in a circular pattern, leaving a 4-5cm border around the edge, then fold the border roughly over the filling, leaving the centre uncovered.
STEP 4:
Brush some melted butter on the folded-over pastry, then scatter over small chunks of butter on top of the apples. Scatter the demerara sugar over the whole galette, making sure that the edges are completely coated with the demerara sugar . Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the apples are tender and the pastry is golden and crisp. Leave the galette to cool down for at least 20 minutes to allow the pastry to firm up. Slice and serve with a scoop of vegan ice cream.
Baking Tips
I recommend using the gram measurements rather than the cup conversions. When it comes to baking, accuracy is key, and cups conversions are never as accurate as grams.
For the best, crispy pastry, make sure that you don’t overwork the dough. Before rolling the dough out, place in the fridge to chill for at least 15 minutes.
When rolling out the dough, make sure to keep it about ½ cm thick – if the pastry is too thick, it won’t cook through, and it may end up soggy.
Make sure your vegan butter and water is chilled when preparing the dough as it’ll give it a crisper texture when baked.
Don’t add too much apple filling to the galette as it’ll prevent the crust from baking nicely.
Make sure to leave a 4-5cm border so you can fold the edges over.
If your hands are warm, run them under cold water before kneading the dough. This will prevent the butter from melting into the dough.
Thinly slice the apples so they bake up nice and tender.