Home delivery
Contact us
Your account

E-mail article     Print view

California Dried Plum and Walnut Galette

In France, a galette is a crepe, but in America, the name usually refers to an open-faced tart.

For the dried plum filling

½ cup sugar

½ cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

1 cup dried plums, packed (about 12 large)

For the pastry

1 1/3 cups flour

1 tablespoon sugar

½ teaspoon table salt

¼ cup cold water

For the walnut filling

2 cups whole walnuts

1 cup sugar

1 egg white

½ teaspoon table salt

For the garnish

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon sugar

1. To make the plum filling. Stir the sugar and water in a small saucepan over high heat until the sugar is dissolved and the simple syrup is boiling. Add the vanilla bean paste and the dried plums. Cover the pan, reduce heat to low and cook until the plums are very tender and have absorbed most of the syrup, about 5 minutes. Allow the plums to cool in their syrup while you prepare the pastry and the walnut filling.

2. To make the pastry. Combine the flour, sugar, salt and butter in a food processor or large mixing bowl and process or work with a fork until the mixture is crumbly; the butter should be about the size of small peas. Add the water all at once and pulse the food processor on and off until the mixture comes together to form a ball of dough. Do not over-process. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate while preparing the walnuts.

3. To make the walnut filling. In a food processor, pulverize the walnuts with the sugar until they are ground almost as fine as flour. If no food processor is available, grind the nuts through a rotary grater (an old-fashioned cheese grater) then stir in the sugar in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add the egg white and salt and pulse the motor or stir in the mixing bowl until the mixture comes together to make a fairly smooth paste.

4. To assemble and bake. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silicone pan liner or baker's parchment. Sprinkle a countertop with flour and, on the floured surface, roll the pastry into a 12-inch circle. Fold the dough in half to move it to the baking sheet, then unfold it onto the prepared baking sheet.

5. Spread the prepared walnut filling in an 9-inch circle in the center of the dough, leaving a 3-inch ring of uncovered dough all around. Arrange the cooked prunes in a symmetrical pattern on top of the walnut filling. (Reserve the syrup in which the prunes were cooked to serve with the finished dessert.) Fold the uncovered portion of the dough up and over the filling in loose, even pleats, leaving the very center of the filling uncovered.

6. Bake until the fruit is boiling inside the crust and the crust is golden brown, about 30 minutes. Brush the exposed areas of the crust with the egg yolk and sprinkle sugar on top, return the galette to the oven until the egg yolk is golden brown, about 1 minute. Cool the galette on a rack and serve it warm or at room temperature with a drizzle of the vanilla syrup.