2½ cups flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup coconut oil, solid (can sub butter or margarine)
4 tablespoons ice water
2-4 tablespoons cold vodka (can sub water)
Almond Filling:
6 tablespoons coconut oil, solid (can sub butter or margarine)
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract (put less or omit if don’t like strong almond taste)
1 cup almond flour/groundalmonds
2 tablespoons flour
Pears:
4 pears (I like Bosc pears for color contrast)
Juice of half a lemon
2 tablespoons sugar
Egg, for brushing
Sliced almonds, for garnishing
Turbinado/raw sugar, for sprinkling
- Prepare the crust: In a food processor, pulse together flour, sugar, and salt. Add coconut oil in clumps and pulse a few times until crumbly dough forms. Do not pulse till smooth. Add in the water and 2 tablespoons vodka and pulse a couple more times until dough is crumbly again. If the dough sticks together when pressed between fingers, there’s enough liquid. If it’s too dry, add 1-2 tablespoons more vodka.
- Pack the dough together with your hands, wrap it in plastic wrap, and chill for 40 minutes in the fridge or 25 minutes in the freezer.
- While chilling, prepare filling. Clean out bowl of food processor and then blend together coconut oil and sugar until smooth. Add egg and extracts and blend until smooth again. Add in almond meal and flour and blend again. Set filling aside.
- Slice pears into thin wedges (leave peels on). Add wedges to a medium bowl and toss with the lemon juice and sugar until pears are evenly coated.
- To assemble, line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Flour work surface and rolling pin. Divide the chilled dough into 10 equal pieces. Roll out first piece of dough into a thin circle (doesn’t have to be perfect). Drop a generous dollop of almond filling onto the center of the dough and then spread it a little, leaving a 1-inch border of dough empty all around. Place a handful of pear wedges on top of the filling, arranging as desired.
- Fold over the empty border of dough on top of the pears. Brush the border with a beaten egg. Sprinkle sliced almonds on the border of the galette and then sprinkle turbinado/raw sugar over entire galette. Repeat with remaining pieces of dough. Place galettes onto prepared baking sheets and then place the sheets into the freezer for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400ºF. Bake galettes for 22-26 minutes, or until golden brown on top and bottom. Serve warm with ice cream and a dusting of confectioners’ sugar if desired.
Yield: 10 individual galettes
These individual almond pear galettes make a beautiful Tu B’Shvat dessert or side dish. This recipe does have multiple steps, but they’re all pretty simple. Conveniently, the crust and the almond filling can both be made in a food processor. And the pears are just sliced and mixed with two ingredients. See? Simple.
Instead of the 10 small galettes, you can also choose to make 2 larger galettes or 12+ really mini galettes.
