Monday, January 11, 2010

Galette des Rois

When I arrived in Paris my junior year of college, it was January. On my first Sunday with my Catholic french family of 7, we gathered snugly around a table that had appeared, beautifully set, in their foyer. I only remember two things about that meal: the radishes with butter and coarse salt at the beginning, and the Galette des Rois at the end. Through my faltering french, I learned we were celebrating Epiphany, the day the 3 wise men arrived at Jesus' side with their gifts. And to celebrate, we were eating a special galette in which a "feve" was tucked (little figurine); whoever found this feve in his or her slice, became the king or queen. There were other rules that are murky to me now, but being new to the tradition-- language, family, country -- I, of course, was the one to bite the little china figurine and blush as I put on the golden paper crown. The cake, it turned out, would prove to be one of my favorites -- it is essentially a giant almond croissant with plenty of almond filling -- and the family to be full of people I love.

After we moved to California and met some special friends who loved the idea of Galette des Rois, Ben and I began our own tradition. There is a local french bakery that makes "Kings' Cake" each January and sells it complete with golden paper crowns. This year, though, I thought it was high time to bake my own. Constance, my french "sister," had given me her recipe, and I had yet to use it. Turns out, the galette couldn't be easier (or more delicious).


Constance's Galette des Rois (Kings' Cake)

2 sheets of puffed pastry, thawed
tad more than 1/2 c almond meal (Trader Joe's has this)
tad more than 1/3 c sugar
1 egg

a little less than ¼ c melted butter
1 tsp almond extract (she said "drops of almond extract" but I like a stronger almond flavor)

Mix all ingredients together.
Cut two circles out of the puffed pastry and put the first on a cookie sheet. Spread the mixture on it, leaving a slight border -- and don't forget to put in the "feve!" Then put the second circle on top and press the edges together. (Note: use a fork to seal the edges all the way around both for aesthetics and to make sure the filling doesn't leak -- one of mine did! You may also want to draw a design on the top of the cake with the point of a sharp knife. Be careful not to cut all the way through the puffed pastry layer but just to make fine lines). Constance suggests making a little hole in the top to let the hot air out -- I did this for neither cake and had no problem. Brush cake with an egg wash and bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes until it's nice and brown.


Here are a few pictures of our celebration this year. We had no gold crowns, so we used birthday hats and Mardi Gras beads instead. Grace (our goddaughter) and I were the true Queens:
But while Hudson and Silas were playing outside, we stuck lego pieces (our "feves" this year -- fitting for this stage of life) in their slices too, so they were Kings as well:We finally had to cut off little Olive and Eden, who apparently, loved the glaette des rois as much as we did.

2 comments:

mMc said...

The hotel we stayed in {unexpectedly} in Geneva delivered a DELICIOUS one of these to our hotel room just last week! Terry got the little swiss farmer figure and was the king of our celebration. I brought the little guy home with me, tho. for next year.

xo

Anonymous said...

At all our little Mexican panaderias here you can get something very similar called, Rosca de Reyes. I think it is Jan. 6th. The person who gets the baby Jesus is expected to host a party (tamales) on Feb. 2nd... mh