I'll be making a batch of hamantaschen on Purim for my family, but it is a labor-intensive project. For those of you who need a more streamlined baking project, this apple hamantaschen galette is it. Keep the three-cornered shape of the hamantaschen, but instead of making dozens of small cookies, make one, big family dessert.
A galette, which can be sweet or savory, is a rustic kind of pastry featuring flaky dough circled around a filling. Italians have a similar idea called a crostada. Unlike pie, galette is not made in a dish, but is more free-form, requiring a slightly sturdier dough.
With his passion for fruit desserts, my husband was all over this apple hamantaschen galette. If you make one, I don’t think anyone will miss the hamantaschen cookies. After Purim, go ahead and make it in a circular shape. It’s too good to miss.
For the dough
- Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in small bowl, and place the bowl in the freezer for ten minutes.
- When the flour is quite cold, remove the bowl from the freezer and add the cubed butter.
- Toss the bowl to coat the butter with the flour.
- Cut the butter into the dough using a pastry cutter or two knives until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Leave some visible pieces of butter that are slightly smaller than a pea.
- Mix the water and lemon juice together and drizzle over the dough. Stir with a fork until the dough begins to come together.
- Gather the dough into a ball and knead it against the sides of the bowl until you have incorporated all of the dough.
- Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour. (Dough can be made ahead and kept refrigerated for up to three days or frozen for longer periods.)
For the filling
- Combine the apple slices, lemon juice, and zest in a medium bowl.
- In a smaller bowl, whisk together the sugar, spices, salt, and cornstarch, and add to the apple mixture, tossing to combine.
To assemble
- Place dough on a well-floured surface or nonstick rolling mat, and using a well-floured rolling pin, roll dough out in a circle shape until it is ¼ inch thick.
- Carefully transfer dough - a large pastry scraper comes in handy here - to a baking sheet lined with a Silpat baking mat or parchment paper.
- Place the apple filling in the center of the galette leaving a two-inch border around the edge.
- Fold the dough over the apples in a triangle, pleating the dough as necessary. Pinch corners of the dough together to seal.
- Beat the egg with a teaspoon of water and brush the egg wash over the outside of the galette.
- Sprinkle with Turbinado sugar, if using.
To bake
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Bake for 30 minutes at 400°F, then turn heat down to 350°F and bake an additional 25 minutes. (If crust begins to burn, cover edge with foil.)
- Cool galette on a wire rack for thirty minutes before serving.
- Garnish with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream if desired.
Emily Paster is the author of three cookbooks, Food Swap: Specialty Recipes for Bartering, Sharing & Giving (2016), The Joys of Jewish Preserving (2017) and, most recently, Epic Air Fryer Cookbook. She is the writer and photographer behind the website West of the Loop, which has been called “a family food blog to savor.” As the founder of the Chicago Food Swap, a community event where handmade foods are bartered and exchanged, Emily is a leader in the national food swap movement.
