Blueberry and almond galette

This is a rustic free-form tart - called a galette in France and a crostata in Italy - either way it’s delicious.  The recipe is from the South African blog The Pretty Blog by The Food Fox - one of my favourites.  Use seasonal fruit - I’ve used blueberries here but peaches are perfect with the almond paste or you can use nectarines or plums - pretty much whatever fruit is fresh and easily available except for strawberries or bananas.  It’s a real dinner party winner - buttery, flaky pastry enveloping an oozing almond paste centre along with slightly tart and soft fruit on top - the flavours are simple and intense and quite delicious.  

If are in a rush you can use a good quality shortcrust pastry (made with real butter) and some shop bought marzipan and you can have it in the oven in less than 10 minutes.  This recipe makes enough for two galettes.

Fruit and almond galette

Ingredients

For the almond paste (or substitute 1 cup marzipan)

100g ground almonds

250ml Icing sugar

¼ tsp almond essence

1 medium egg white, lightly whisked

For the pastry (or use a packet of good quality sweet shortcrust pastry)

2 cups plain flour

¼ cup caster sugar

½ tsp salt

250g cold butter, diced

1/4 cup Ice cold water

For the filling 

1 1/2 cup blueberries  (or other seasonal fruit)

To make the almond paste, put all the ingredients except the egg white in a food processor.  Add half the egg white and pulse until it comes together into a ball. Add a little more egg white if you need to.  Form the almond paste int a ball (or the marzipan if you are using it) with cling wrap and freeze for at least two to three hours. It won’t freeze solid because of the sugar content, but you need it to be hard enough to grate.

To make the pastry, place the flour, sugar, salt and butter in a food processor.  Pulse until it resembles breadcrumbs, then add the icy water all at once while the motor is running.  As soon as the dough starts to come together, remove it from the bowl onto a lightly floured surface and press into a disk shape, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to firm up.

Pre-heat oven to 220C. Roll out the pastry on a floured surface to a thickness of about 5mm. 

Transfer onto a large baking tray lined with baking paper. Coarsely grate the frozen almond paste/marzipan all over the brushed egg pastry surface, then cover with blueberries.  Fold the edges over carefully, keeping the look of the edges rustic. 

Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.  Serve warm or at room temperature with crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream.

Cherry marzipan scones

These are rather posh scones and are a little more fiddly than usual but are ideal for a treat or of course for tea on the verandah with Hugh Grant and Colin Firth ….

This recipe is from a food blog called the Bonjon Gourmet and I’ve been waiting impatiently for cherry season to try it out.  I love the almondy flavour of the scone dough and the cherry sandwich layer becomes quite oozy and jammy.  You could probably use tinned cherries, but you’d need to squish quite a lot of the liquid out of them first.

Cherry Marzipan scones

Ingredients

1/2 cup fresh marzipan, crumbled
2 tablespoons sugar
2 cups plain flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, in 1/2″ cubes
3/4 cup plain greek yoghurt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cups fresh sweet cherries, pitted and quartered:
1-2 tablespoons milk
a small handful of sliced almonds (preferably unblanched)
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Using a food processor, combine the marzipan, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt. Pulse to combine and break up the almond paste. Add the butter, and pulse until the mixture resembles sand. Add the yoghurt and the almond extract, and pulse just until the mixture begins to form a ball.

Put the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, dust the top lightly with flour, and roll into a 12 by 8″ rectangle, turning and flipping the dough, dusting with flour as needed to prevent sticking.

Lay the prepared cherries over half the dough. Fold the other half of the dough over the cherries, and press down gently but firmly (this will help the cherries stay in place when you slice and move the scones). Freeze the whole thing until fairly firm, but not frozen, 20 minutes.

Put a rack towards the top of the oven and preheat to 210ºC. Line a heavy baking tray with parchment paper, and stack it on top of a second heavy baking sheet (this helps to stop the scones from burning on the bottom).

Trim away the outer 1/4″ from each side of the scone, then cut into 12 squares. Brush the tops with milk, sprinkle with the almonds, pressing them lightly into the scones, then sprinkle with the coarse sugar.

Transfer the scones to the baking tray, spacing them at least 2 inches apart. Bake the scones until they are golden brown on top, 18-20 minutes.  Serve warm with cream or creme fraiche.