Recently I made Mr. GQ a delicious French pastry dessert.  My inspiration was a Barefoot Contessa recipe for French apple galettes.  A galette is a French freeform crusty cake.  This version is made from a sheet of puff pastry which gets quartered so the galettes are individual rectangular treats.  They were a big hit and I will definitely trot this recipe out in the future when I’m making a French bistro supper.

Here’s the recipe:

Yield: 4 servings 

Ingredients:

I sheet Pepperidge Farm puff pastry, thawed in the refrigerator 

2 Granny Smith apples

3/8 cup sugar

3 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, small-diced

3/8 cup apricot Simply fruit preserves (Smucker’s)

3 Tbsp Calvados, rum or water

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

2. Unfold the puff pastry sheet and cut it into quarters. Place the quarters on a plate in the refrigerator while you prepare the apples 🍏. Set the sheet pan covered with parchment on the counter.

3. Peel the apples and cut them in half. Remove the stems and core with a sharp knife and a melon baller. Slice the apples into 1/4 inch slices.

4. Place overlapping slices of apples diagonally on each puff pastry quarter as well as a slice on each side.

5. Sprinkle the sugar over all the pastry slices and dot with the butter.

6. Put all four pastries on the parchment-lined sheet pan. (By putting the sugar and butter on the pastries on a plate and then transferring them to the sheet pan, less sugar gets on the parchment, minimizing burning the edges of the galettes.)

7. Bake for 35-40 minutes until the pastries are brown and the edges of the apples are starting to brown. Rotate the pan once halfway thru baking time. If the pastry starts to puff up in one area, slit it with a sharp knife to let the air out. Don’t worry! The apple juices will burn in the pan but the galettes will be fine!

8. When the galettes are done, heat the apricot Simply fruit in a saucepan with the water (in my case), over low heat until the preserves are slightly runny. Brush the preserves over the entire surface of each pastry. Loosen the galettes from the parchment paper with a spatula so they don’t stick to the paper. Allow them to cool and serve warm or at room temperature.

9. Enjoy!

I hope you love these as much as my husband and I did. These are so fun to make as well as easy. The puff pastry looks so dramatic and the apricot glaze looks very shiny and appealing. You won’t be disappointed! Happy Fall baking🍏🍁🍂🍏!