March 14, 2012

Caramel Apple Galettes (Pi Day Link-Up!)

Crazy for Crust is having a Pi Day Link-up Party.  You know, "Pi" as in March 14th.  3.14?  Get it??  Ha.  I know you're laughing.  My teachers in school never made a big deal about Pi Day.
Luckily, March 14, at my school in Alaska, just happens to fall during spring break.  Darn.  I reallyreallyreally wanted to plan something special for my least favorite subject to teach.  (Did you catch the sarcasm?) Although, perhaps it would have been a good excuse to make lots of pie and feed it to people...
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I'm not sure why this is, but I've never been a "pie person".  Maybe because most of the pies I ate growing up were made with Pillsbury crusts.
It wasn't until I made this galette last summer that I realized my love for flaky pie crust.  It has to be homemade and it has to be Crisco.  Inmyopinion, of course.

I still buy pre-packaged pie crust for emergencies, like a chicken pot pie for dinner, but for a fruit dessert this crust is perfect.  Flaky, flavorful, and, most importantly, easy.  Actually, this is like a giant "pie-cookie".  I don't think it gets any better than that.


Caramel Apple Galettes
makes four 4-inch galettes or 1 large galette
crust adapted from this recipe

Crust:
1 1/2 cups Crisco
3 cups flour
1 egg, slightly beaten
5 T. cold water
1 t. salt
1 T. white vinegar

Apple filling:
2 large Granny Smith apples (peeled and diced)
1 t. lemon juice
3 T. brown sugar
1 T vanilla
1/2 cup caramel ice cream topping

Optional:
1 egg+2 T. water to brush on the crust before baking
White sugar for sprinkling

In a large bowl, cut the Crisco and flour together with a pastry blender or a fork until it looks like crumbs.  Add the rest of the ingredients and stir together until just blended.  Form the dough into a ball and place in a Ziploc bag.  Put in the freezer for 15-20 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface, flatten out the dough until it is a 12-14 inch circle OR 4 smaller circles.  Place on foil on a cookie sheet.  Lay out the pastry on the foil.

In a bowl, mix the diced apples, lemon juice, sugar, and vanilla together.  Spoon into the center of each dough circle and fold up the edges to keep the filling in place.  Brush the tops and crust with the egg-wash (if desired) and sprinkle with white sugar.

Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.  More time may be needed depending on your oven.

Drizzle with caramel sauce before serving.

11 comments:

  1. Kristin, I'm drooling right now!! Thanks for hopping with me :)

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  2. Yea, I'm not really into PI or anything math related, but a PIE like this and I am all over it. Love all the yummy caramel!!! Happy PI day:-)

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  3. This looks delish! and yes there is nothing better than a really good pie crust!

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  4. I'm drooling too; this looks so yummy!

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  5. Totally delicious! I love a homemade crust so much more than the packaged kind. (But shhhhhh....don't tell anyone. I use the dough boy for my pie today.) Thanks so much for participating in the hop Kristin!

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  6. Hahaha would you judge me too much if I made the one large galette just for myself and ate it while I performed polynomial long division? Because seeing as the last part HAS to happen today (ugh, school kills me) I may as well make it memorable and fun by eating a super caramely concoction. Yes?
    PS--you're right, homemade crust rocks the socks and so do these!

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  7. That looks way too delicious! And the caramel over top? Wow!

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  8. I am SO into caramel right now. I'm clearly going to have to make more pie...

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  9. Cookie-pie? Love it! Caramel is one of my favorites, and home-made pie crust, well, I don't understand people who say they don't like crust. Who are these people? Is it rude to say, "I'll eat your crust if you don't want it?" Seriously.

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