There is a tradition at least in France, Quebec and Belgium right after Christmas. Eating a cake by the time of the epiphany : "La galette des rois". In the north of France and Belgium, it's basically two puff pastries with an almond paste inside. It's a delicious sweet thing. But that's not what makes it special.It's the fact that a little figurine (most often in porcelain) is hiding inside. And whoever gets it becomes the kind or queen of the day. Traditions may vary from family to family on that but I'll focus on mine and will give you a recipe I did this year that you might like (even outside of Epiphany days!):In order to find out who is going to be king or queen, the youngest child hides under the table and says the names of the guests around every time a piece is served. When the person eating it finds out, he or she becomes queen or king and gets to choose whoever is the queen or king with them.In many families, the king or queen can demand things their ways the rest of the day. We have done it a couple of times when the kids were younger but now we just have family and friends gathering. And the kids are already happy if they just have the figurine in their piece!When you buy it in bakeries, they give you those crowns with the galette you buy. But when you make it yourself you have to make your crown so Lily did it this year:And of course the best is to have guests to share it with!So now on to the proper recipe:
Galette des rois poire- chocolat (chocolate pear)
Inspired by this recipe found
but modified to be a bit healthier
2 puff pastries
2 pears
60g of dark chocolate
150g of Almond powder
150g of butter (you can replace it by a 100g of apple compote, it's as delicious and much healthier)
a tiny spoon of coconut oil
75g of Agave syrup or maple syrup or coconut sugar and little more for the pears (or 100g of classic sugar)
3 eggs: two for the cake and one for the brushing in the end.
Steps
Preheat the oven 180°C. Peal and cut the pears in four. Take their stalk out. Cut each parts in two or three pieces. Then put the coconut oil in a pan and fry the pears adding a tiny bit of syrup/sugar on them to caramelise a little in the end. Set aside without too much of the juice.Beat together in a large bowl the syrup/sugar, butter/apple compote. Then add the almond powder and two eggs until it's homogeneous.Unroll the first pastry on a baking tray, either living the paper under from the pack or adding one if there isn't any (or if you make the puff pastry yourself, and then I say: bravo!) pour the mixture on it living one or two centimetres or 1 inch on the edge. Dispose the pears on it. Make sure it isn't too watery. Then add the chocolate on top that you have broken into small pieces.Don't forget at that stage to put in the figurine somewhere if you are doing the proper thing!Then water the edge slightly and put the second pastry puff on top of it closing it firmly. You can use a fork to press the edges down to make sure it's properly closed. Whip the last egg in a bowl and brush the top. You can make little drawings on top with a knife (gently) first. Put in the middle of the oven for 20-30 minutes until it's really golden. And voila!It's really delicious that way but the proper recipe goes without the pears and chocolate and you can try the same recipe without those two ingredients adding a bit more almond powder if you like (not more than 200g).I haven't posted many recipes on this blog, apart from the ones on the autumn post and the lilac cordial recipe. But I find this one a nice easy transition for the after Christmas even though it's not really a detox one. Hope you enjoy it and let me know if I should do more of those!