Description
Using pie dough and a simple fruit filling, you can create mini galettes that are perfectly portioned and fun to serve as an alternative to a full pie or galette. Review the recipe notes below and the helpful video tutorial before beginning.
Ingredients
- Flaky Pie Crust or All Butter Pie Crust dough (either recipe makes enough dough for this)
- 2 and 1/2 cups (about 350-400g) mixed berries or other fruit (see note)
- 1 Tablespoon (8g) cornstarch
- 2 Tablespoons (25g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice or vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) whole milk, for brushing*
- optional for topping: coarse sugar and/or chopped/sliced nuts
Instructions
- Pie crust: I like to make sure my pie dough is prepared before I begin. Make pie dough the night before because it needs to chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before using. (See note.)
- Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Make sure you have enough room in your refrigerator for these baking sheets because the shaped galettes must chill in step 7.
- Prep the filling: Gently stir the berries, cornstarch, sugar, and lemon juice/vanilla together in a medium bowl until combined. Place in the refrigerator, covered or uncovered, until step 5.
- Shape the crusts: Working with 1 chilled pie dough at a time, place the dough onto a floured work surface. Roll into a large 12-inch circle. Use your warm hands to mold any cracking edges back together as you see me doing in the video tutorial below. From the circle, cut rounds using a 5.5 or 6 inch cookie cutter. I simply use the rim of a bowl that’s about that size. Or you can use a ruler and cut circles with a sharp knife. You’ll have to re-roll the dough scraps a few times. Work quickly because the dough becomes much more delicate the longer it’s at room temperature. You’ll get about 5 rounds per pie crust. Repeat with 2nd chilled pie dough for a total of about 10.
- Fill galettes: Arrange dough rounds on prepared baking sheets. Remove filling from the refrigerator and spoon about 1/4 cup into the center of each dough round, leaving any excess juice behind in the bowl. Gently and tightly fold the edges over the filling leaving the very center exposed, as you see in the photos and video tutorial. Make sure the mini galettes are tight and compact so they don’t unfold themselves or lose shape while baking.
- Brush the edges of the pie dough with milk, which helps guarantee the dough will brown. If desired, sprinkle with coarse sugar and/or sliced almonds/nuts.
- Chill the shaped galettes in the refrigerator, covered or uncovered, for at least 20 minutes and up to 4 hours. The galettes will lose shape if they’re not chilled. You can preheat the oven as they finish up chilling.
- Preheat oven to 375°F (191°C).
- Bake chilled galettes for 25-28 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned.
- Remove from the oven and cool for at least 5 minutes before enjoying. You can enjoy warm or at room temperature. Serve plain or with ice cream or whipped cream.
- Cover leftover mini galettes and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Pie dough, whichever you use, can be made ahead of time and chilled in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 3 months, too. Allow to thaw overnight in the refrigerator before rolling out and filling. You can assemble the mini galettes in steps 5 and 6, then chill in the refrigerator in step 7 for up to 4 hours. I don’t recommend longer than this because the crust could become soggy. Baked and cooled galettes can be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator then bring to room temperature, if desired, before enjoying.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Glass Mixing Bowl | Rolling Pin | Pastry Brush
- Fruit: You can pretty much use any fruit here. Rinse, peel, slice/chop, and pat dry as necessary. Make sure the fruit is in thin slices (apples, peaches, pears, plums) about 1/8 or 1/4 inch thick or bite-size pieces. I suggest using berries or at least some berries in the filling. I used 1 and 1/2 cups strawberries and 1 cup blackberries. I recommend slicing strawberries as I did in these photos so they’re flatter slices and you can layer more into each. See my blog post above for different fruit filling ideas. Fresh fruit is best, but you can use frozen if needed. For best results, thaw the fruit first. Blot dry as much as you can before using in the filling.
- Lemon Juice or Vanilla Extract: You can use either. Think about which will pair best with the fruits you’re using. I like using lemon juice with berries.
- Milk: I recommend whole milk for brushing on the crusts, but you can use lower fat, nonfat, buttermilk, half-and-half, or even heavy cream (which will be very thick, thin with a bit of water). You can also use nondairy milk.
- Half Batch: For about 5 mini fruit galettes, use 1 pie dough disc and save the other for another time. (See pie dough recipes linked above for freezing instructions.) Halve each of the filling ingredients. All assembly, chilling, and baking instructions remain the same.
- Chilling the Baking Pans in the Refrigerator: If you’re nervous to chill the baking sheets in the refrigerator then bake them (which can cause warping), you have two other options. You can simply assemble the galettes on parchment paper or silicone baking mats, lift the parchment/baking mat as a whole and place on another baking sheet or directly onto a shelf in the refrigerator. After chilling, carefully lift up and place the entire parchment/baking mat onto the baking sheets for baking. Or you can use a thin spatula and very carefully transfer the assembled unbaked galettes to a large plate to chill.