Pluot Galette with Vanilla “Crème Fraiche”

A galette is a simple, rustic, single-crust fruit pie. Because it is so simple, its success lies entirely in the details, namely, the freshness of the fruit and the quality of the crust. Homemade pie crust is not only deliciously tender and flaky, but it’s quite easy to make – it requires minimal skill and takes about 15 minutes at most. Sure, your first few attempts might not come out great, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll never go back to store-bought.

I bought a bunch of sweet pluots at the store the other day because they were staring me in the face and I couldn’t say no to them, what with their plump flesh, translucent speckled golden yellow skin, and cute little dinosaur stickers. These pluots aren’t the common dinosaur egg varieties, which taste more like plums, but rather a sweeter, more apricot-y variety. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with them (aside from eat them whole), but a vision came to me last night: a pluot galette. I’ve made galettes before using plums and apricots, so why not make one with their lovechild, the pluot?

Pluot Galette with Vanilla “Crème Fraiche”

(serves 4)

For the pastry dough:

½ + 1/8 cup flour
1 teaspoon sugar
Dash of salt
½ stick cold unsalted butter, cut into ½” cubes

2 tablespoons ice water

For the filling:

2 -3 ripe pluots

1 tablespoon semolina
4 tablespoons sugar

12 almonds

2 tablespoons apricot jam

For the crème fraiche:

2 tablespoons sour cream
2 tablespoons lowfat yogurt
1 ¼ teaspoons confectioners sugar
1/8 teaspoon vanilla

***************

Pastry dough

Sift together the flour, sugar, and salt in a large metal bowl that has been chilled in the freezer. Cut the butter in with a pastry blender or a fork until the mixture resembles coarse meal and there are pea-sized lumps of butter.

Sprinkle the water around the mixture and gently blend with a fork. Gather a small amount of the dough in your hand – it should hold together but still be slightly crumbly.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface and divide it into two equal-sized portions. With the heel of your hand, smear each portion forward a few times to distribute the butter. Gather both pieces together and form into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. (The pastry dough can be made a few days ahead.)

Galette & crème fraiche

Heat the oven to 375°F.

Cut the pluots in half and twist to separate the sides.

Remove the pit, and then cut each half into 4 slices.

Toast the almonds by arranging them in a single layer on a microwave-safe plate and heating on high power for 30 seconds. Let the almonds cool. Place them in a resealable plastic bag and crush the almonds by hitting with a rolling pin or any heavy object.

Lightly flour a work surface. Roll out the pastry dough to an approximately 9” circle (it does not need to be perfectly round). Transfer the dough to a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Mix the semolina with 2 tablespoons of sugar. Evenly sprinkle the mixture around the pastry dough, leaving a 1” border. Top with the crushed almonds.

Arrange the pluot slices on the dough with the skin down in a ring pattern and fill in the middle with remaining slices. (You may have some slices left over.)

Fold the border over onto the fruit, pleating the dough as necessary. Sprinkle the fruit and crust with the remaining 1 – 2 tablespoons of sugar, depending on the sweetness of the fruit.

Loosely cover the galette with a piece of foil and bake on the middle rack for 40 minutes.

Mix the sour cream, yogurt, vanilla, and confectioners sugar in a small bowl. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

A few minutes before removing the galette from the oven, put the apricot jam in a small microwave-safe bowl and heat on high for 15 seconds.

 

When the 40 minutes are up, remove the galette from the oven and discard the foil. Brush the melted jam on the crust using a pastry brush. Return the galette to the oven and bake for another 10 minutes.

Serve with vanilla crème fraiche and lightly sprinkle with cinnamon (optional).