Galette des rois, the typical French dessert prepared to celebrate the arrival of the Magi on Epiphany.
A dessert made of puff pastry and a frangipane cream with almonds, not difficult except for the incision to be made before baking, which I had already prepared some time ago but the decoration was not too good…
Now that I’ve redone it, I searched the web for some secrets to make the cut better and discovered that it was enough to put the galette des rois French sweet in the freezer for a few minutes and then…. then make the chosen design.
You never stop learning, don’t you agree???
What is the history of the galette des rois, a delicious French sweet? It seems that scholars trace the origin of this dessert to the Saturnalia, Roman festivities celebrated in honor of the god Saturn between December 17 and 23 in ancient Rome. With the advent of Christianity, it also became a dessert linked to Catholic festivities.
The French galette des rois, the kings’ cake, celebrates Epiphany and represents the meeting between the Magi and baby Jesus, with other versions in America with the King cake, the Vassilopita in Greece, and the Bolo rei in Portugal.
The original filling of the galette des rois original recipe is almond-based frangipane cream, but now there are many different and personal versions like vanilla bean-flavored cream, chocolate, and even jam.
The particularity of the Galette des rois is the inclusion of a bean, a bean hidden inside the dough itself, which names whoever finds it as the king or queen of the party. Over time, the bean has become a tiny artistic object, sometimes simple (in plastic) other times more chic (in porcelain), so much so that in France there is a real collection (favoritism) of this particular object.
Let’s remember to serve this galette des rois sweet with a crown… which was in the old photo
but in this new one.. no! (better a nice or at least better photo than a horrible one with a crown, eh eh)
But let’s go and prepare the galette des rois French sweet!!!
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I’ve opened a channel of recipes open to everyone and free on WhatsApp with no notifications and no sound, which you can subscribe to by clicking the link here https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaHbGIn9cDDig7Cw2x0F and every day you can read a sweet and a savory recipe!
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GALETTE DES ROIS
The kitchen of ASI
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: cake of 9.5 inches diameter
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Epiphany, Christmas
Ingredients
- 2 rolls ready puff pastry
- 4 Eggs
- 4.5 oz Butter (soft)
- 2 oz peeled almonds
- 2 oz almonds with skin
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla essence
- 4.25 oz granulated sugar
- 1 Whole almond
Preparation
For the galette des rois kings’ cake, in a bowl mix the soft butter with the sugar to obtain a soft cream.
Now add, one at a time and only when the previous one is well absorbed into the mixture, 3 eggs.
Now add the vanilla extract and all the almonds, finely chopped in a mixer.
Trace a 9.5-inch circle with the puff pastry and brush with water an outer edge of about 0.6/0.8 inches.
With the piping bag, starting from the center, place the almond cream up to the edge moistened with water.
Add the whole almond.
Now cover with the second circle of puff pastry and with the remaining egg, brush the entire surface of the galette des rois French sweet.
Place the galette des rois in the freezer for about 20/25 minutes.
Now with a sharp knife, trace the design you prefer on the surface of the original French recipe kings’ cake by slightly scoring the already egg-brushed puff pastry.
Bake in a preheated oven at 392°F for about 20 minutes, then lower the heat to 356°F, continuing to bake for another 20 minutes or until you have a galette des rois beautifully puffed and golden!
Let it cool, and if you wish, sprinkle it with powdered sugar: for once I didn’t, because I thought the design was nice, but as always, you decide how to present your galette des rois!!
Enjoy with this crumbly and tasty French sweet!!
Annalisa
Advice and Notes
You can vary the filling of the galette des rois French sweet using not only the frangipane cream but also pastry cream, chocolate cream, etc., and you can also accompany it with apple sauce or jam of your choice! I recommend the pastry cream prepared with the recipe by maestro Knam or the quick and delicious one made in the microwave…
