In the interest of full disclosure I should tell you that I didn’t know what a galette was until I happened across the recipe for one on smittenkitchen.com and subsequently had a go at making one myself (click here to see the results!)

After a little research it seems to me that a galette is the name for a pastry (with a sweet or savoury filling) that is one part messy, two parts rustic.  I must admit that this is the sort of ratio I like to work with when it comes to pastry as I fear I’m not much of a neat pastry kind of girl.

Two things came together for me to make this dessert; firstly, since I now know what a galette is, I felt compelled to make more of them, and secondly I had some leftover dough in the freezer from making some cherry, chocolate and almond hamentaschen over Purim that I decided would work perfectly in this recipe.

(if you click on my Instagram feed you’ll find a pic of the hamentaschen I made using a recipe from a blog called notderbypie.com)

NB: I’m sure I’m going to get into trouble with my ex-patisserie chef sister, Abigail, for suggesting you use a fruit that isn’t strictly in season yet (and she’s quite right too!) so if you want to stay on her good side, and you have more patience and self-restraint then I do, you could either wait a couple of months until blueberries have come into season or use rhubarb – which is in season now – although I’d make sure to add more sugar to combat its natural tartness.

Feeds 8.

INGREDIENTS:
PASTRY // 55g unsalted butter // 55g cream cheese (I used medium fat Philadelphia) // 40g icing sugar // zest of half a lemon // 1 egg yolk // 160g plain flour // pinch of salt
FILLING // 350g blueberries // 1.5 tbsp granulated sugar // 2 tsp cornstarch // 1 tsp vanilla extract // 1 tbsp lemon juice // zest of 1 lemon
GLAZE // 1 egg yolk whisked together with 1 tsp water // 2 tbsp Demerara sugar

METHOD:
PASTRY // Cream the butter, cream cheese, icing sugar and lemon zest together until light and fluffy.  Add the egg yolks and beat until fully incorporated.  Add the last of the ingredients and mix until a dough forms.  Quickly work the dough into a ball on your kitchen work top, wrap with cling-film and pop in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
NB // I made the dough in my kitchen-aid (the best invention known to man) but Rivka, of notderbypie.com, says it can be done just as easily using only a fork.

FILLING // Simply mix all the required ingredients together in a bowl and set aside until needed.

ASSEMBLY & COOKING // Preheat your oven to 180°.  Lightly dust a clean work surface with flour and roll out the dough into a rough circle of about 30cm in diameter and approx. 3/4mm thick.
Carefully transfer to a baking tray lined with parchment paper.  Deposit your blueberry mixture into the centre of the dough and fold in the outer edges of pastry to create a crust.  Brush with glaze and sprinkle with the Demerara sugar.
Bake for around 25min until the crust is golden and the blueberries are bubbling.
Let stand for 5min before serving.

S-O-T-H TIP: Make ahead and re-heat for 10min before serving.