I was planning to make apple pie for my kids and my husband who have all been bugging me for days to make one, I told them I will after a trip to the supermarket, I can’t make apple pie without apples, right?
We went grocery shopping, went home with everything we need but the apples, I can’t believe there are no fuji apples available (I only use this variety for my for my pie) that time, but I don’t want to disappoint my two angels and grabbed a pack of pears.
I decided to make my lazy-day pie, the rustic free-form pie/ tart better known as crostata in Italian and galette in French. I chose this recipe from Cooking Light, I was WOWed by the photo.
It looks really yummy (although my photo is not as appetizing to look at, but hey, I made it and it definitely tastes better than it looks) and I got intrigued by the cheese in the recipe, I’ve never tried adding cheese at the bottom of the pie before.
You have got to try this one too, the pear tastes a lot like apple, but the cheese at the bottom definitely add a little something, something to the pie and the caramel, I can’t believe I almost skip this part (I knew that the caramel will harden once cooled and I don’t really like it) but I’m glad that I stuck to the original recipe.
It made a whole lot of difference. My husband love the crunch, a nice contrast to the soft filling. I loved it too; the kids? They’re just happy with their pie and still think it’s apple crostata with caramel.
Pear Galette
Equipment
Ingredients
FOR THE GALETTE:
- Cooking Spray
- ½ pack Pie Dough 15ounce pack / pillsbury brand / refrigerated
- ½ cup Aged Sharp Cheddar Cheese 2ounces / shredded
- 5 pcs Ripe Bartlett Pears or D'Anjou Pears / peeled / cored / cut into 1inch slices / I used early pear
- 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
- ⅛ teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
- ¼ cup Packed Brown Sugar
- 3 tablespoons All Purpose Flour
FOR THE CARAMEL:
- ⅓ cup Granulated Sugar
FOR THE PASTRY DOUGH:
- 1 cup All Purpose Flour
- 2 tablespoon Sugar
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 1 stick Butter cold / diced
- 2 tablespoon Water Iced
Instructions
IF YOU WANT TO MAKE PASTRY DOUGH FROM SCRATCH:
- Sift flour, sugar and salt in a bowl, cut-in butter until it resembles coarse crumbs, add water and mix til just combined.
- Form into a ball and flatten into a disk.
- Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before using.
FOR THE GALETTE:
- Preheat oven to 400°.
- Line a jelly roll pan with foil, and coat foil with cooking spray.
- Roll dough into an 11-inch circle, place on baking sheet.
- Sprinkle crust with cheese, leaving a 1-inch border.
- Combine pears, juice, and nutmeg in a large bowl, toss well.
- Add brown sugar and flour, toss gently.
- Arrange fruit on dough leaving a 2 inch border.
- (Pears will be piled high on dough)
- Fold edges of dough toward center, pressing gently to seal.
- (dough will only partially cover pears)
- Bake at 400° for 30 minutes or until crust is lightly browned.
- (filling may leak slightly during cooking)
- Cool galette on a wire rack.
FOR THE CARAMEL:
- Heat granulated sugar in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves.
- Stirring as needed to dissolve sugar evenly (about 4 minutes).
- Cook 1 minute or until golden.
- Remove from heat.
- Drizzle over galette.
