Apple Cashew Galette

I have never been fond of pies or tarts. In my humble opinion, pies are too much of a work that I can easily do without. Though I admit after that pastry dough attempt, I should call this hardly any effort. Pies are great no doubts, but I assume they can do more good to parties and big gatherings. As for a family of 2.5 (that .5 credit goes to my toddler, ahem ;)), I think it’s a lot too much than we can eat.

Not long ago, when I started out my culinary expedition paired with blogging and photography, out of sheer craze for collecting baking gears, I bought a couple of tart cases and pie tins to flaunt them in my ever growing collectibles. They sat, sat and sat in my ever brimming cabinet, weighed down by new objects of desire that piled up on them. I did not quite put them to use and they were soon forgotten. It was only until last week that I noticed a thick blanket of dust resting peacefully on them, growing at a steady pace, plump and nice, making a brand new piece of hardly used stuff look like an antique artefact dusted off from a granny’s attic. I seriously urge to curb my impulsive shopping flair. Some tips are most welcome please!

Amazingly, that’s not a case with my cookbooks. My study area has been stacked with cookbooks and magazines neatly, adding and multiplying by leaps and bounds by every passing month, wailing for space beyond what it can accommodate. A few purchased, a couple borrowed, some cut-outs, handy snippets, few subscriptions … and even as new cookbooks and magazines have added to my collection, the old books still hold a special place in my heart. You’ll find them scattered everywhere, some at my bedside table, here and there at the coffee tables, a couple on the kitchen counter, a few on the center table, handouts on my microwave, some under my pillows too… Phew!

Yet with so many cook books around I like to go back to my old one with classic recipes. I've admitted in the past, I totally love the Big Book of Baking for its classic collection of recipes. I've made several from them, never had them fail, blogged some here and continue to do so. As I dusted my pie pan, my thoughts quickly raced back to the recipe I had seen for tarts and pies in the Big Book of Baking. The perfect time I need to put my pans to use, before they can make up for a good sale in an antique store!

But when I set out to put the recipe together, lethargy kicked in and what was meant to be a neat fluted tart, ended up being a free form one, but of course baked on my fluted tart tin! Galetté, a notably French recipe, is a free form tart that can be either sweet or savoury and here’s one for Apple Cashew Galetté, made from locally fetched apples.

Apple Cashew Galette

INGREDIENTS

For the Pastry

90 gm plain flour
85 gm cold salted butter, grated or cut to small pieces
1-2 tsp. cold water

For the Filling

350 gm cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced
62 gm soft light brown sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
100 gm cashewnut halves

DIRECTIONS

To make the pastry, sift the flour into a mixing bowl. Rub butter into the flour using your fingertips. Add just enough ice cold water to bind and form a firm dough. Bring the dough together, knead very lightly and wrap in a cling film. Refrigerator for about 20 minutes.

Pre-heat the oven to 220 deg C. Toss the apples with the all of the sugar and add ground cinnamon. On a floured surface, roll out the dough to a 8-inch round. Transfer to a baking tray. Spread the pie filling over the dough, leaving an inch on the borders. Roughly fold the border over the filling, to ensure the filling is well cased, while leaving the center open. Top well with the cashew halves and bake for 45 minutes or until golden. Serve warm with whipped cream or custard or as is.