I’ve written before about my love of buying bruised fruit, or pie bags, from farmers who keep these slightly less-than-perfect treasures specifically for people like me. This is fruit that’s been bumped on its way to market or is slightly overripe, and needs consuming quickly. Which makes it ideal for jamming with, or compoting, or ice creaming, or baking. It’s particularly divine for pie making.
In this Indian summer moment of serious southern California heat, I found myself flush with the last peaches of the season. I’ve been obsessed with galettes this summer—I love their simplicity and unassuming elegance. Their messiness and ease with themselves. They’re a dessert that is perfect practically all the time, no matter if the pastry cracks or the fruit falls out of place.
This galette pairs the fullness of peach—a succulence matching the golden light of the season—with floral notes of rose, tender spice of cardamom and vanilla, and earthy, floating pistachio. The pistachio brittle is simple to make, yet opens a window to a whole new range of flavor combinations. You can find rosewater in the specialty foods section of most grocery stores and health food stores—just make sure you get the kind designed for consumption.
This is the kind of dessert I’d eat for every meal. It’s light, it’s vibrant, it’s rich, it’s fragrant, it’s sexy.
Actually, it was so sexy that I took about a bajillion photos while making it. They’re scattered throughout here. Enjoy. Try to breathe in the gorgeous notes of peach and rose and cardamom and vanilla through the screen. They’re wafting towards you right now.
Ingredients
Pastry Crust
- 1 1/4 cup pastry flour plus extra to flour the surface for rolling
- 2 Tbsp . + 1 teaspoon sugar
- ¼ tsp . sea salt
- 8 Tbsp . (1 sticchilled salted butter
- 4-5 Tbsp . ice water
- 1 egg for the egg wash
Filling
- 3-4 inch medium sized peaches yellow or white or mix, sliced ¼ thick
- 2 tsp . fresh lemon juice
- ¼ tsp . ground cardamom
- ¼ tsp . ground vanilla or ½ tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 Tbsp . refined sugar
Honey Vanilla Pistachio Brittle
- ¾ cup shelled pistachio nuts roughly chopped
- 2 Tbsp . honey
- ¼ tsp . ground vanilla or ½ tsp. vanilla extract.
- 2 pinches flaky sea salt I like Maldon
Cardamom Rose Whipped Cream
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 1/2 tsp . honey or more to taste
- ¼ tsp . ground cardamom
- 2 drops rosewater or more to taste
Instructions
- Make the pastry crust at least 30 minutes in advance: Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Cut chilled butter into small pieces and use a pastry cutter or fork to work into the flour mixture until it’s almost fully incorporated. Add 4 Tbsp. ice water (you can add more later if need band work dough together for just a few moments more until it is smooth and cohesive. Add another ½ or full Tbsp. of ice water if it’s too dry or crumbly. Form into a disk about 1” thick and cover in plastic wrap. Place in the fridge.
- Prepare the filling: Place sliced peaches in a bowl, and douse with lemon juice, sugar, and spices. Toss lightly just to coat. Make the egg wash now as well, beating one egg in a bowl and setting in the fridge to use on the pastry crust later.
- Assemble the galette: Preheat oven to 400º. When the dough has chilled at least 30 minutes, remove from the fridge and lightly dust a piece of parchment paper with flour (the dough will stay on this parchment paper for baking, so it can be as big as the cookie sheet you’ll bake on). Begin to flatten the disk of dough by tapping its surface (really you’ll be smacking it, but that sounds a bit violent, doesn’t it?) in a circle with the rolling pin—flattening it out as you go. When it’s about 1/2” thick, start to roll it out into a larger circle. Ultimately it should be about 1/4” thick.
- Place the parchment paper and dough on the baking sheet you’ll use in the oven. Arrange the peaches, upright (or flat, if you wish, I shan’t begrudge you either way!), in a concentric circle, starting at the center and working outward. Leave a 2-3 inch border. Then fold the edges of the dough in, layering sections as you please (see picture). Make sure there are no tears or gaps (to prevent leaking).
- Brush the exposed dough with the egg wash.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes (checking at 30 to estimate remaining time), until the peach tips are slightly bruléed, the pastry is golden brown, and the bottom is starting to caramelize.
- Make the pistachio brittle: Combine all ingredients for pistachio brittle in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Taste, and add more honey if you need a hint more sweetness. Arrange evenly on a small baking tray, and bake in a toaster oven set to its convection oven setting for 5-7 minutes at 425º. If you don’t have a toaster oven, you can also use another rack of the oven with the galette in it—it just may take a few minutes longer at a slightly lower temperature. Check at 5 minutes, and again every 2 minutes. Nuts cook quickly and can burn fast! Careful. As soon as it’s done, remove from the baking sheet and spread out on a plate to cool. Clumps are fine.
- When the galette is done, let cool for 10 minutes before serving.
- Just before serving, pour chilled whipping cream into a large bowl and add honey, cardamom, and rose water. Whip with electric beaters until you reach your desired whipped cream consistency, just until soft peaks form.
- Serve each slice of the galette with a few spoonfuls of cardamom rose whipped cream, topped with a generous sprinkle of honey vanilla pistachio brittle.
- Swoon.
