Galette des rois

Happy New Year!

This is a recipe for a French dessert made with pastry and almond paste (or frangipane) eaten to celebrate Epiphany and throughout the month of January. I learnt about this one from the French part of my family. Traditionally a small ceramic toy is hidden in the cake. The youngest person at the table hides underneath the table and as the cake is cut calls out the names of who the slice should belong to. Whoever finds the toy hidden in their slice is crowned king or queen for the evening and wears a gold crown.

You don't have to do all that, though. The galette is delicious in any case!

Galette des rois - serves 8-10

Ingredients

• 500g packet puff pastry
• Three eggs
• 125g caster sugar
• 125g ground almonds
• 125g unsalted butter
• A tablespoon of dark rum
• A tablespoon of milk
• One egg yolk

Method

1. Get the butter out of the fridge well in advance (about an hour is ideal) - you will need it to be soft so that it can be mixed in easily. Get the puff pastry out at least 10 minutes before you need to use it as well - probably about the same time as you start making the almond paste.
2. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
3. Mix the caster sugar and ground almonds in a bowl.
4. Then cream in the butter using an electric hand whisk, until its smooth in texture.
5. Mix in the three eggs, one by one, mixing each one in well with the hand whisk.
6. Mix in the rum.
7. Cut the slab of puff pastry in half. Roll out each half until it's about 0.5 cm thick and you can cut out a circle using a plate as a guide.
8. Make an egg wash: mix the egg yolk with the tablespoon of milk using a fork.
9. Place one of the circles of pastry on a baking sheet. Spoon the almond mixture onto the pastry, leaving a 5 cm border around the edge.
10. Brush the border with the egg wash. Then place the other pastry circle on top of the almond paste (don't worry, the paste is quite thick and won't squidge out if you don't press too hard on it). Pinch the two pastry sheets together - you can do this quite roughly as when it all rises it won't show, but do make sure it's well pinched together or turned in on itself as otherwise the filling will seep out when it's cooking.
11. Chill the galette for between 30 and 60 minutes.
12. Score the top of the pastry with a sharp knife in a diamond pattern (diagonally one way, then the other). Brush it with the remainder of the egg wash.
13. Bake in the oven for around 40 minutes, until the pastry is risen and golden.
14. Some recipes tell you to then brush the pastry with a sugar syrup, but I think it's nice just as it is - sweet but not too sweet.
15. You could serve it with cream but beware: it's pretty heavy as it is!