By Dorie Greenspan
- Total Time
- About 45 minutes, plus chilling and cooling
- Rating
- 4(1,219)
- Notes
- Read community notes
The galette des rois, celebrating Epiphany, the day the Three Kings (les rois) visited the infant Jesus, is baked throughout January in France.Composed of two circles of puff pastry sandwiching a frangipani filling, each comes with a crown and always has a trinket, called afève, or bean, baked into it.It’s an invitation to gather, as much party game as pastry – if your slice has thefève, you get the crown and the right to be king or queen for the day.Happily, the galette can be made to fit your schedule. The pastry circles can be cut, covered and refrigerated ahead of time as can the almond filling (it will keep for up to 3 days).And the whole construction can be made early in the day and baked when you’re ready for it.Tuck a bean or whole almond into the filling — warn your guests! — and, if there are children in the house, put them to work crafting a crown.
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Ingredients
Yield:Serves 8
- 6tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ¾cup (85 grams) confectioners’ sugar
- ¾cup (85 grams) almond flour
- ¼teaspoon salt
- 2large eggs, at room temperature
- 1tablespoon rum (optional)
- 1teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 29½-inch-diameter circles puff-pastry dough (from a 14- to 17-ounce package; 396-482 grams), cold
- 1whole almond or dried bean, for the charm
For the Filling
To Assemble
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
868 calories; 61 grams fat; 18 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 29 grams monounsaturated fat; 6 grams polyunsaturated fat; 67 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 12 grams sugars; 13 grams protein; 389 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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To Make the Filling
Step
1
Working with a mixer or by hand, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy and light. Beat in the almond flour and the salt. Mix in 1 whole egg, then the white from the second egg (reserve the yolk). Mix in the rum, if using, and the extract. Cover, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Step
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Mix the yolk with 1 teaspoon cold water; cover, and refrigerate until needed.
To Assemble
Step
3
Place one circle of dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Spread the filling evenly over the dough, leaving a 1-inch border bare. Press the charm into the filling. Moisten the border with cold water, position the second circle of dough over the filling and press around the border with your fingertips to seal well. Using the back of a table knife, scallop the edges by pushing into the dough (about ¼- to ½-inch deep) every ½ inch or so. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Step
4
Heat the oven to 425. Brush a thin layer of the reserved yolk glaze over the top of the galette, avoiding the border (if glaze drips down the rim, the galette won’t rise). With the point of a paring knife, etch a design into the top of the galette, taking care not to pierce the dough. Cut 6 small slits in the top as steam vents.
Step
5
Turn the heat down to 400, and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the galette is puffed and deeply golden. Check after 20 minutes, and tent loosely with foil if it’s browning too much or too fast. Transfer to a rack, and cool for at least 15 minutes (the galette may deflate — that’s puff pastry for you). Serve warm or at room temperature.
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4
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1,219
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Cooking Notes
Holly
I've been eating these every epiphany in my village in France (for 25 years) & know the galette des rois well. Didn't get to France this winter, so made this for the 2018 new year's festivities and much to my amazement, it turned out fabulous...and authentic! In fact, it surprisingly beats the flavor/texture of many I've enjoyed in France. Add a little meyer lemon zest to the filling and quickly brush with simple syrup right when it comes out of the oven - perfect!
Pascale
You divide the whole cake up equal parts for the game to work. We had a 5 inch galette for two adults and two first graders. Less sugar, more almond.Grand Marnier replaces rum and vanilla.One almond as a fève, three in my pocket for serving. Usually I serve with champagne, today paired with a Gewürztraminer late harvest. Cheat in your children’s favor while they’re under the table. Our cake had one almond each!PS: Bake pastry scraps with egg brush and parmesan - apéro nibbles sorted.
Cathy
Julia Child advises brushing all of the dough around the filling, not just the border, with water and then placing the top on, pressing all the air out from around the filling, poking tiny holes if necessary, and turning a bowl over on the assembled pastry. The edge of the bowl should be about 1/2 inch from the edge. Press down hard to really seal the the top and bottom together. I haven't had a failure since I started doing this.
David Griffiths
If you were to make your own puff pastry, how thick should it be? A quarter of an inch?
Sara
David Lebovitz has pictures of how to shape the edges on his website, if you google his name plus Galette Des Rois!
Rebecca
I used almond extract instead of vanilla to give the filling more almond flavor...tasted exactly like what I used to eat in France. Thank you for the easy recipe!
catarina
Made this for Reyes/epiphany, since I’m Spanish, I’m used to having candied fruits atop the rosca. As an experiment I purchased some nice fruit pastes, quince, pear, fig & plum. I sliced very thin strips of the fruit pastes and added them every inch, in parallel strips, making sure to keep them away from the edge so I could seal the sides. I also grated a bit of Meyer lemon zest in the center. I made two galette, for a table of 12, there was none left, total success & easy!
Jennifer H
How the game works: the youngest child goes under the table, and the galette is cut into pieces. As each piece is put on a plate, the child decides to whom it will be served. Then, the person with the fève gets to wear the crown.
mark
I made this as per the recipe with the exception I made my own puff pastry (recipe from the King Arthur website and using hard red unbleached wheat)). Came out delicious. Make sure you have a small army to consume it or be prepared to take long winter walks to burn off the calories.As far as the thickness of my puff pastry (precooked), about a quarter inch is right. 9.5" diameter circles cut from the rolled out 10" x 20" sheet. Good bit pastry left over.
Lynn in DC
I enjoyed a slice of this lovely cake at a dinner party in New Orleans a year ago. I could have eaten the entire cake by myself but good manners prevailed. The recipe is over my head but maybe the bakery (Le Croissant, I think) ships desserts to out-of-towners.
Leek
Be careful to really seal your pastry top and bottom together. I had a leak and lost a good bit of the filling out of the side.
Lakeshore Cindy
Much easier to make than it looks, and it was good but not really our cup of tea. Tastes like butter, no real sweetness, I expected the filling to have more flavor. The suggestion to add 1/2 tsp or so almond extract to the filling is a good one, and maybe a bit more sugar. I wet the edges well, pressed, and had no problems with leaking.
DWS
Yet another use for that pizza stone and peel—to prevent butter from seeping into the pizza stone prepare and cook the galette atop parchment paper.
Emily
This is an easy recipe, although as others have mentioned, there is a fair bit of waiting in between. I also had the issue of the filling oozing out, and have learned to really push down and seal the full inch perimeter in Step 1 of the Assemble section.I place a small chunk of semisweet chocolate in the mixture as the "feve." (I had this many years ago as a teen and almost choked on the figurine as I hoovered up its deliciousness).
Lisa
This came out well the first time I made it - very easy. Having said that, based on other recipes online, I did decrease the sugar content to 1/2 cup and increase the almond flour to a full cup and added orange zest, almond extract and orange blossom water. I love the flavor of orange and almond and liked that it was not too sweet. I also loved that I could make it the day before and just pull out to bake the day I was serving.
Lucina
Made with Mama 3/14/24. Used almond extract instead of vanilla. Was worried about leakage but it turned out fine.
Mary
This is a question: I used an all butter puff pastry and the bottom crust wound up very tough; literally hard to cut. Did anyone elese has this experience?
Ara
This recipe is easy and almost error free; after ruining two galettes, called a baker friend in France and she told me the issue of the filling spilling out was/is due to using confectionary sugar - it will make the filling too runny. Please only use granulated sugar - once I used the granulated sugar the galette was perfect and I brought it to French class to share with my classmates. Bon appetite!
Sas
Is there a gluten free puff pastry ?
Marie
I keep trying to make this and keep failing to make a galette where the filling doesn’t run out. I even tried the Julia Child trick a commenter advised. Clearly it’s me, not the recipe, since lots of people report great success, but ugh……
Natasha
Can you put this in a pie dish instead of just placing it on a baking sheet? Has anyone tried?
Jennifer M
My filling oozed out in three places. I’m not sure what happened there. I’ve never had an issue with crimps when I do pies, but I always make my own crust. Even so this tasted really good. Reminds me of baklava.
judy Nollar
Orange zest.
billie
My galette completely leaked all over, is this only because the sides weren’t crimped enough?
Connie
Is there a substitute for the almond flour? I ask, because I'm allergic almonds.
Cici
Another version of the bean theme is the "lucky bean" dessert served on New Year's Eve. The person who gets the bean in their portion gets good luck for the new year.
Theo
I use pulverized almonds instead of almond flour and granulated sugar instead of confectioner's because it makes for what I feel is a better texture to the frangipani. Also, if you like a more marzipan flavor, use almond extract or 1/2 tsp of vanilla and 1/2 tsp of almond extract. Also, I believe a sunburst pattern is traditional, but "carving" the pattern onto the top layer requires a very sharp knife tip to avoid pressing too hard on the dough. Also agree adding lemon zest enhances flavor!
Peter
I can also recommend King Arthur's Almond Galette version of this recipe which steps you through making a rough pastry dough, turned three times, which is a snap, and comes out great, very flaky...
Morgan Judge
Made this but used two boxes of store bough puff pastry, so made two smaller galettes! It worked well and everyone enjoyed it! I added the rum in the filling. Would suggest doing the same.
me
Ended up making a smaller version based on the size of my puff pastry sheet (Jus Rol brand). Followed others’ advice to brush the full 1” border with cold water and press like crazy. Didn’t bother with trying to decorate the border, just crimped it. No leaks!!! I did find that I had to tent with foil at minute 14 though minute 20.
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