Blackberry and Cherry Gallette with White Chocolate and Sliced Almonds

I have fallen in love with gallettes. They are absolutely charming and rustic looking. There is so little hassle in just folding the crust over the filling versus trying to make it fit and working it into a tart pan. They are easy to remove if your pan is lined with parchment paper, where lining a tart pan with parchment is not always feasible. Gallettes can also just be baked right in your cast iron pan and the pan used to serve it directly onto the table, adding to the rustic charm of the dessert.

I normally develop all of my own recipes, but this time I had to cheat. The Food and Wine crust was perfect, and the way they filled the bottom of the crust with a layer of a brown sugar and oat crumble is reminiscent of a cobbler topping but it is used on the bottom instead. The rest I decided to change up a bit and add my own flair.

For the filling, I used cherries and blackberries, and then added white chocolate and almonds as I was inspired by a Blackberry Farm Blackberry Tart years ago topped with nuts and white chocolate. You could also use macadamia nuts cut in half in place of the almonds.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Of course!

Prep Time:

Preparing and Mixing Ingredients: 30 minutes

Crust refrigeration time: 1 hour or overnight

Baking time: 65 minutes

Serves 6-8

Ingredients Crust:

4 cups all-purpose flour (3 for crust, ½ cup reserved for oat filling)

3 ½ sticks butter (3 for crust, 6 Tbs reserved for oat filling)

1 Tbs of granulated sugar

1 Tbs salt

1 cup iced water (not including the ice)

1 Tbs of Turbinado sugar for topping the crust

Ingredients Filling:

For bottom filling:

1 cup old fashioned oats

6 Tbs of butter softened to room temperature

½ cup flour

½ cup packed light brown sugar

1 Tbs whole flax seeds

1 tsp ground cinnamon

For the fruit topping above the oat filling:

1 ½ lb. blackberries

1 lb. cherries sliced in half and de-stoned

½ cup confectioners sugar

¾ tsp lemon zest

Juice of 1 lemon

3/4 tsp orange zest

3 Tbs sliced almonds

3 Tbs white chocolate chips

Directions:

To make the crust:

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, combine 3 ½ cups of the flour with 3 sticks of the cubed butter, the granulated sugar and 1 Tbs salt. Beat at low speed until it resembles the consistency of peas. Add water slowly while beating, until a lumpy dough forms, about 2 minutes. Remove and place on a floured surface. Shape into a flat circle. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour or you can do this step the day before.

The filling:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the cherry halves that have been de-seeded with the blackberries. Mix in the confectioners sugar, the zests and the lemon juice.

In a separate bowl, prepare the bottom half of filling. Combine the oats, brown sugar, flax seeds, cinnamon, 1 tsp of salt, the remaining 6 tablespoons of butter and ½ cup of flour. Mix with fingers until crumbly.

On a lightly floured piece of parchment paper, roll out dough to 15 inches and about ½ inch thick. Flip the paper with the crust over onto an ungreased cast iron skillet (or alternatively one lined with parchment paper). I always find it easier to roll out crust and then transfer it on parchment. Note: The crust will be a little crunchier without the parchment lining the cast iron pan. But with the parchment you can move the gallete to another serving platter easily. It really is up to you how you want to serve it. I prefer it in cast iron. It adds to the charm. Pat dough into the pan. Spread the oat crumble over the bottom and place the the fruit filling on top. Place the chocolate and the nuts where you want them versus pouring it over the fruit filling. Fold the crust over the sides, leaving the middle exposed. Brush the crust with 1 beaten egg yolk and sprinkle the Turbinado sugar all around crust evenly. Cover with aluminum foil. But make sure you tent it. If you do not tent it, the foil will stick to your crust. We are tenting the middle also as you normally would not do, but we don’t want the nuts and chocolate to burn. Bake 40 minutes tented. Then uncover it, and bake another 25 minutes until the crust is golden.

I like to serve warm with ice cream.