Almond and Sweet Cherry Galette

With cherries in season, I got inspired to make some kind of cherry galette or crostata. I sought out my copy of The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook and lucked out that it had an Almond and Sweet Cherry Galette recipe.

Of course, Deb's recipe involves making pie dough. I have little experience making pie dough and it was not successful. Many years ago, I tried to make a pandowdy with homemade pie dough and the fruit mixture turned out too watery and the pie dough wasn't great. I haven't tried making desserts involving pie dough since.

So, I considered cheating and buying pre-made pie dough to eliminate any anxiety of messing up the dough, and ultimately the galette. But the home cook in me decided to suck it up and make the pie dough.

Despite my inexperience, one thing I always hear about pie dough is to use cold butter and ice water. So I was nervous about my dough getting warm and used refrigerated water from my Brita pitcher, added ice, and let it sit in the fridge to get ice cold right until I had to use it. I even chilled a glass mixing bowl in the freezer beforehand to keep the dough as cold as possible while I formed the dough after the food processor. (Sorry, no pictures to share of making the dough as I moved quickly to get it into the fridge to chill.)

In the end, I was so happy with how the dough turned out! The dough browned nicely and had a flaky texture that I liked. I think some pie crusts can become gummy but this was not. I would definitely use Deb's pie dough recipe again.

Once I got past the pie dough, the rest of the galette recipe is very easy. Prepping the cherries just involved washing and removing stems. The cookbook mentions that some people believe that leaving the cherry pits in imparts an almond-like flavor. So I chose to follow the recipe and leave in the pits because it made prep easier. I actually think there was a slight almond taste from the pits, so I didn't mind it.

The almond filling is quick to make. So simple there's not much to say about it.

Almond mixture, finely ground before wet ingredients added

I kept the rough edges when I rolled out my pie dough and like the rustic look. But you could trim off any rough edges to make perfect round shape or fold edges under for cleaner lines. I didn’t have turbinado/raw sugar and just used granulated white sugar to sprinkle around the edges.

I enjoyed how cherry and almond flavors went together. The pie dough had a nice crispy crust on the bottom and top edges and was flaky. The cherries did not release much juice which I think helped keep the crust from becoming gummy. Another great Smitten Kitchen dessert that isn't too sweet.

I really like a galette because it’s fairly easy and looks impressive.

My Rating (out of 5): 5 for the pie dough; 4 for the galette