Apple Cranberry Galette

Well, I’m just going all fall on you this week, aren’t I?  First the pumpkin blondies, now this.  Let me just say that with my very serious apple orchard addiction, you have a lot more apple recipes coming your way.  This was my first time ever trying a galette.  To be honest, the first time I ever heard of one (basically a free-form pie), I was kind of turned off.  Why would you want such a non-uniform, rustic appearance when you could have a pretty, symmetrical traditional pie?  I never saw the appeal and never intended to try one until I ran across this recipe and for some reason, I needed to make it.  I’m guessing the apple-cranberry combo had something to do with it.

One great reason to make a galette is if you need to make a dessert with little equipment available to you.  In this case, I’m referring to my dad’s kitchen.  You don’t even need a pie pan – just a baking sheet.  I did use a stand mixer to make the crust, but it is easily done by hand as well.  We had a big group of friends over for a cookout and I decided to try this since it seemed simple and sounded delicious.  It was quite well received with all of our guests, and I now understand the appeal of this dessert.   I think its rustic quality actually makes it attractive – plus, I think the crust looks pretty cool folded up in pleats.  This crust recipe is unlike any I have tried before in that it contains cornmeal and sour cream (you could also use yogurt).  I was concerned about how the texture would be affected but ultimately this came out great and I thought the crust tasted fantastic.  The original recipe as printed below yields two galettes, but I think one would be enough in most circumstances.  I made two since we had a crowd.

Directions

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