This quintessentially autumnal salted caramel apple galette recipe features a crisp, flaky all-butter pie crust encasing a spiced fresh apple filling, all topped with an easy homemade salted caramel sauce.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword apple, apple galette, caramel, pie, salted caramel
Prep Time 1 hourhour
Cook Time 45 minutesminutes
Total Time 1 hourhour45 minutesminutes
Servings 8(one 9-inch galette)
Author katiebirdbakes.com
Ingredients
For the crust:
1/2cup (113g)unsalted butter, cold(1 stick)
1 1/4cup (156g)all-purpose flour
1/2Tablespoon (6g)sugar
1/2teaspoonsalt
1/4cup (60 ml)cold buttermilk or cold water
For the filling:
4cups (410g)thinly sliced apples (this was 2 large or 3 medium apples for me)
1/3cup (66g)granulated sugar
1/4cup (60 ml)apple cider or apple juice
1Tablespoonlemon juice
1Tablespoon (14g)unsalted butter
1Tablespoon (8g)all-purpose flour
1Tablespoon (7g)cornstarch
1teaspooncinnamon
1/4teaspoonnutmeg
Pinchsalt
For assembling the galette:
Heavy cream or half & half
Turbinado or coarse sugar
For the salted caramel sauce:
1cup (200g)granulated sugar
1/4cup (60 ml)water
1/2cup (120 ml)heavy cream
1Tablespoon (14g)butter
1/2teaspoonsalt
Instructions
For the crust:
Food processor option: Combine butter, flour, sugar, and salt in food processor. Pulse until butter is well combined with the flour mixture. Add buttermilk or water and pulse until a dough forms.
Hand mixing option: Cut the butter into small cubes. Add to a large bowl with the flour, sugar, and salt. Cut the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter, two forks, or your fingers (my preferred method) until the mixture resembled wet sand. There will still be larger butter pieces and that's ok. Add buttermilk or water and stir just until a dough forms.
Turn dough out onto a clean surface and shape into an even, flat disk. Wrap in plastic wrap, then roll the sides to form an even edge. Refrigerate for 1 hour while preparing the filling.
For the filling:
In a medium saucepan, combine the apples and all other filling ingredients, and cook over medium heat until the apples release their liquid and the filling thickens, about 5-7 minutes.
Remove from heat and let cool completely - I often put it in the fridge to speed along this process. Don't put warm filling on the rolled out pie dough or it could get soggy.
For the galette:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. On a clean, lightly floured countertop or surface, roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness in an even-ish circle. Place the circle of dough on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Pour the apple filling mixture onto the center and spread it out to within about 2 inches of the edges.
Fold the edges of the dough over the filling (at least 2-3 inches over), creating a freeform pie shape. This can be very rustic, and certainly does not need to be perfect! Just try to keep it even and not create any holes for filling to come out.
Brush the folded-over edges of dough with a little heavy cream or half and half, then sprinkle with sugar. If you feel like the dough has gotten warm during this process, put the whole galette in the fridge or freezer for 20 minutes to make sure it's really cold when it goes in the oven. This creates a flaky, crisp crust!
Make ahead option: you can freeze the entire galette at this point for up to a month before baking. Bake directly from frozen on a parchment lined baking sheet per the below.
Bake for about 45-50 minutes, until crust is bronzed and filling is bubbling. You may have some filling leak out, and that's ok. Drizzle with salted caramel sauce and serve with vanilla ice cream and chopped nuts, if desired.
For the salted caramel sauce:
In a medium saucepan (I recommend a stainless steel or light-colored ceramic saucepan so you can see what's happening) stir together the sugar and water, then heat over medium heat. DO NOT STIR. You can swirl it a little from time to time, but don't stir or whisk it. The mixture will come to a boil and be very bubbly.
Continue to cook the sugar until it has turned a dark amber hue, about 8-10 minutes. While it's cooking, measure out your heavy cream, butter, and salt, and grab a whisk. Things need to happen fast once you reach the right color or else the sugar will burn.
As soon as a dark amber hue is reached, remove pan from the heat and whisk in the heavy cream - whisk vigorously. It will crackle loudly and seem like it's curdling but keep whisking!! After 10-15 seconds or so of whisking, a glorious caramel sauce will emerge in your pan.
Whisk in the butter and salt. Serve warm sauce with the galette.
Notes
Store leftover galette at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the fridge for up to a week, though galette is best the day it's made. Baked galette can be frozen and stored up to 3 months, tightly wrapped. Reheat in a 350 degree oven between 10-20 minutes until warmed through.Store any leftover sauce in a sealed jar or container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.Recipe adapted from my Apple Crumble Slab Pie.