As summer draws to a close, you’ll find yourself buying as much fruit as you can while simultaneously trying to get rid of your excess. It’s a fruit paradox, and I suffer from it too. I’ve found myself relying on classic fruit bakes and getting creative with other favorites to use up my less-than-pleasant berries and stone fruits. It turns out that baking a small batch of mini fruit galettes is the best thing to do when you have an uncomfortable amount of ripening berries on your hands.
How to Make Rustic Summer Fruit Galettes | Easy Fruit Galette Recipe
Galettes are like pies without the pie pan. They have the typical elements of a fruit pie, fruit filling and a pie crust, but they are flat, open and somewhat freeform. The appeal of a galette is that it is less complicated than a pie. The main reason I make mini galettes in late summer is because large galettes, like pies, still require a lot of fruit, two to four cups, and mini galettes do not. You can make a batch of mini galettes with that random half-eaten pint of oozing blueberries or a single peach. And if you keep a pre-made pie crust in the fridge, it makes it a lot easier.
Defrost and roll out a sheet of ready-made crust. Use a large cookie cutter, a mason jar lid, or just a paring knife to cut circles out of the dough. Remember that galettes are rustic, so if you do it with a knife, it’s okay if the circle is lopsided. Make the circles about three to four inches in diameter. My local ShopRite had a box of these Pillsbury mini pie crusts, so I gave them a try. They’re no revelation, but they do punch out seven little hexagons in the dough that you can cut out. You can make three circles or 12, depending on how much fruit you want to use up. Return any leftover pie crusts to the refrigerator or freezer.
Place the dough circles on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Since galettes don’t have a pie crust to hold the crust in place, you’ll need to use egg wash. Egg wash helps seal the crust and gives the galettes a lovely golden colour. I mix one egg yolk with a teaspoon of water. Brush the outer edge of each crust circle with this mixture.
