January, the start of a new year but also the start of the dieting craze, at least here in England. This week I have been bombarded with emails about veganuary, dry January and everything diet related. In France, although the festivities are long gone, there is still a bit of celebration going on. No dry January for sure. At this time of year the boulangeries will be filled with "la galette des rois", literally the cake of the kings, to celebrate the Epiphanie. Except that we don't just eat it on 6th January, but the whole month. There are two types of galettes des rois, in the North it is made with frangipane whereas in the South the traditional galette is presented as a crown or wreath made of a sweet brioche dough and often decorated with glacés fruits. Both of them are delicious, but my favourite galette des rois remains the one with frangipane, which is the recipe that I am sharing with you today.
First, make the frangipane, in a bowl mix the eggs, the ground almonds, the flour, the rum, the sugar and the butter all together until the mixture becomes creamy, put this mixture 15 minutes in your freezer to firm up. In the meantime, set your oven to 180° C. Line a tray with baking paper.
Take your puff pastry out and draw a 7″ circle using the bottom of a 7″ loose tin, draw another circle, a little bit bigger, say 8″ using the same method.
Take your frangipane out of the freezer and spread it on top of your 7″ circle of puff pastry, brush the edges of your pastry with a little bit of water. Then place your 8″ circle on top of the frangipane and press down the edges with your fingers, the water will act as a glue and seal your galette. With a knife you can draw some pretty patterns on top of your galette, be brave and imaginative. Then brush the top of the galette with egg yolks, and place it in the oven for 30 to 45 minutes until the top is golden brown. ( You can dust the top with icing sugar before placing in the oven, but not essential).
Et voilà!
Enjoy with a glass of cider. I remember having mine with a delicious cider from Normandie, these were the days!
Bon appétit!
Corinne
You can follow the recipe on YouTube
You can check more recipe ideas here