Pear Cranberry Galette Recipes

PEAR AND CRANBERRY CROSTATA

Steps:

• For the pastry, place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse a few times to combine. Add the butter and toss quickly with your fingers to coat each cube of butter with the flour. Pulse 12 to 15 times, or until the butter is the size of peas. With the motor running, add the 1/4 cup ice water all at once through the feed tube. Keep hitting the pulse button to combine, but stop the machine just before the dough comes together. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured board and form into 2 disks. Wrap the disks with plastic and refrigerate for at least one hour.
• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
• Roll each pastry disk into an 11-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Transfer them to 2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
• For the filling, peel, core, and quarter the pears. Cut each quarter into big chunks. Toss the chunks with the orange zest. Divide the pear chunks between the pastries, covering the dough and leaving a 1 1/2-inch border. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of cranberries over the top of each tart.
• Combine the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and allspice in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture is crumbly. Pour into a bowl and rub it with your fingers until it starts holding together. Sprinkle evenly over the top of the two tarts. Gently fold the border of each tart over the pears, pleating it to make a circle.
• Bake the crostatas for 30 minutes, or until the crust is golden and the pears are tender. Let the tarts cool for 5 minutes, then use 2 large spatulas to transfer them to wire racks.

CRANBERRY-PEAR GALETTE WITH PECAN CRUST

Steps:

• Make the crust: Position a rack in the bottom third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Spread the pecans on a baking sheet and bake until lightly toasted, about 6 minutes. Transfer to a plate and let cool.
• Pulse the toasted pecans, flour, sugar and salt in a food processor until the nuts are finely chopped. Add the butter and pulse about 4 times to coat the flour. Pulse in the cream cheese until the dough looks like coarse crumbs and just holds together when pinched. Pulse in the egg and ice water just until the mixture is slightly moist. The dough will be crumbly; do not overwork it. Turn out onto a piece of plastic wrap and pat into a disk, using the plastic wrap to help you. Wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour and up to 24 hours.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Dust the top of the dough with flour and press and roll out into a 14-inch round on a lightly floured surface. Transfer to the baking sheet. (It's OK if the dough is larger than the baking sheet ¿ you'll fold in the edge.) Pinch together any cracks in the dough.
• Make the filling: Toss the pears, cranberries, sugar, flour, orange zest, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, salt and butter in a large bowl. Spread the filling over the dough, mounding it slightly in the center and leaving a 2-inch border. Fold the edge of the dough over the filling, pleating as needed. Brush the edge with water and sprinkle with sugar.
• Bake until the filling is soft and bubbling and the crust is golden brown, about 1 hour. Transfer to a rack and let cool completely, at least 4 hours.

RUSTIC CRANBERRY-PEAR GALETTE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Coat pizza pan or baking sheet with nontstick cooking spray, then set aside.
• Set aside 1 teaspoon sugar, then, in a medium bowl, combine remaining sugar, cornstarch & cinnamon, blending well.
• Add pears, cranberries & vanilla extract & toss to coat.
• Remove crust from pouch, then unfold it, remove plastic sheets & place it on the prepared baking sheet.
• Spoon pear mixture in center of crust to within 2 inches of the edge.
• Fold edge of crust 2 inches over pear mixture & crimp slightly.
• In a small bowl, combine egg white & water & whisk until well blended.
• Brush egg wash onto outer edges of pie crust & sprinkle with remaining 1 teaspoon of sugar.
• Bake 25 minutes or until pears are tender & crust is golden brown. If edges brown too quickly, covere with foil after 15 minutes of baking.
• Cool on wire rack at least 30 minutes.

PEAR CRANBERRY GALETTE

Steps:

• Remove the pastry from the freezer and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Leave to thaw while you prepare the fruit, but don't keep it out of the freezer for too long. It's easiest to handle if it's cold and will thaw quickly. You just want it soft enough so that you can manipulate it.
• Soak the cranberries for 5 minutes in hot water. Drain and dry on paper towels. Toss the sliced pears with the lemon juice in a large bowl, then add the dried cranberries, honey, cinnamon and vanilla and gently toss together.
• Sprinkle the almond flour over the pastry, leaving a 2- to 3-inch border all around. Place the fruit on top. Fold the edges of the dough in over the fruit, pleating the edges as you work your way around the fruit to form a free-form tart that is roughly 9 inches in diameter. Place in the freezer on the baking sheet for 45 minutes to an hour. This helps the galette maintain its shape.
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the galette from the freezer. Brush the exposed edge of the pastry with the egg wash. Sprinkle the sugar over the fruit and the crust. Place in the oven and bake 50 to 60 minutes, until the fruit is bubbly and the juice is running out and caramelizing on the parchment. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

PEAR CRANBERRY GALETTE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350ºF.
• Lightly coat baking sheet with non stick cooking spray.
• In a medium bowl, mix together flour and salt.
• While stirring flour mixture briskly with fork, drizzle in oil a little at a time, stirring until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• Add almond extract and water a tablespoon at a time, adding just enough water for tough to come together.
• Shape dough into a disc.
• Wrap in in waxed paper or plastic; refrigerate one hour or until firm.
• While dough chills, peel pears and slice in half lengthwise.
• Core pears by cutting a V-shaped wedge lengthwise from the center of the cut side of each pear.
• Place the pear halves in a bowl of water mixed with a little lemon juice.
• On baking sheet, roll out dough int a rectangle.
• Drain pears and and slice thinly.
• Insert knife blade under the slices and lift onto dough.
• Repeat with remaining slices.
• Fold dough edges up and over pears about a 1/2 inch or so to form a border.
• You can leave the edge plain or notch or flute it like you would a pie crust if you choose to make it look fancy.
• This is an open fruit cake so Pears will not be entirely covered by dough.
• Sprinkle pears with Splenda.
• Brush pears with melted preserves.
• Sprinkle pears with cranberries and slivered almonds if using.
• Bake at 350ºF 30 minutes or until top is golden brown.
• Cool on wire rack.
• Slice into squares to serve.
• Can be served warm or room temperature.

CHRISTMAS CRANBERRY GALETTE

Steps:

• Make the dough for the Flaky Cream Cheese Pie Crust with modifications as noted above.
• Macerate the Cranberries:
• A minimum of 1 1/2 hours and a maximum of 24 hours ahead of baking, in a medium bowl, place the superfine sugar (reserve 1 teaspoon for the border) and the light brown sugar and use your fingertips to combine them and rub out any lumps of brown sugar. Cut each cranberry in half and add them to the sugar mixture. Stir the mixture well and set it aside for 1 hour at room temperature or, preferably, overnight in the refrigerator.
• Stir the cranberry mixture well, then stir in the walnuts.
• Preheat the oven to 400°F. at least 20 minutes before baking. If not using a black pan, plan to bake the galette directly on the oven floor; alternatively, set an oven rack at the lowest level and place a baking stone or cookie sheet on it before preheating.
• Using a floured pastry cloth and rolling pin sleeve rubbed with flour, or two sheets of lightly floured plastic wrap,*** roll the pastry to a circle roughly 18 inches in diameter. Using an expandable flan ring or a cardboard template and a sharp knife as a guide, cut out a 16-inch circle. If the dough softens, slip it (still on the cloth or plastic wrap) onto a baking sheet and refrigerate it for about 30 minutes, covered, until firm before lining the pan. The pastry is too large to slip your hands under and support adequately. To transfer it to the pan, roll it loosely over the rolling pin or dust it lightly with flour and fold in quarters. Leave the overhang.
• Scatter the cranberry mixture evenly over the dough, covering a 13-inch area and leaving a 1 1/2-inch border. Fold the overhanging border of dough over the outer edge of the cranberries, using your fingers to pleat it loosely at even intervals. Brush this border with a little milk or water and sprinkle on the reserved sugar. (This will give the border a crunchy texture.)
• Cut a 10-inch round of foil and place it gently over the cranberries, leaving the crust uncovered. Bake the galette for 30 minutes.
• Place a second round of foil large enough to cover the filling and the crust border loosely over the tart and continue baking for about 10 minutes more or until the bottom crust is golden brown. (Slip a small angled metal spatula or flexible knife under the edge of the tart, lifting it slightly, to check doneness.) Cool the tart on the pan on a rack for about 20 minutes or until warm. Dust with powdered sugar.
• Store:
• Room temperature, up to 2 days.
• Note:
• A half-size galette can be made using a 9-inch pan. Roll the dough less than 1/8 inch thick and large enough to cut an 11-inch circle.
• Understanding:
• The challenge with this particular berry tart is to keep the cut cranberries from drying out without underbaking the crust, which would make it soggy. The solution is to make a temporary top "crust" from foil and to bake the tart on a baking stone or directly on the floor of the oven.
• Cutting the cranberries in half and allowing them to sit with the sugar allows them to absorb the sugar. With their tough outer peel, whole cranberries would retain most of their juices, so they would not dissolve the sugar fully. This would cause the bitterness of the cranberry to stand apart from the sugar, rendering the final effect too bitter and too sweet simultaneously.
• The crust must be prepared without baking powder, as the weight of the cranberrry/nut mixture would not be sufficient to keep it from puffing.
• ***You may have to overlap sheets of plastic wrap to roll the dough large enough.