Flaky pie crust wrapped around a thin layer of sweetened cream cheese, topped with freshly sliced blood oranges, and baked until golden. Oh, and drizzled with homemade salted caramel to make it even more delicious!
Equipment
- Mixing Bowls
- Butter Knives or Food Processor
- Parchment Paper
- Rolling Pin
- Baking Sheet
- Knife
- Cutting Board
- Spoon
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
- Medium Pot
- Small pot
- Fine Mesh Sieve
Ingredients
CRUST
- 2 cups flour
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter cold and cubed
- 4 tbsp cold water
- Egg for egg wash
- Course sugar for crust topping
FILLING
- 7-8 blood oranges
- 3 oz cream cheese softened
- 1 tbsp powdered sugar sifted
CARAMEL
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp water
- 3 tbsp heavy cream
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter slightly softened
- ⅛ tsp flaky sea salt
Instructions
- In a bowl, stir together your flour and salt. Using two butter knives, held against each other with one in each hand to form an “X,” cut your butter into your dough, with the knives pulling away from each other and back in, until you have a sand-like consistency
- Add in your water (I like to put a few ice cubes in a glass before filling it with cold water to make sure it’s extra cold), stir together, and then compress the dough into a ball. See notes below if you have a food processor!
- Place your dough ball between two large pieces of parchment paper and roll it to ⅛” thickness, making sure your dough is an even thickness throughout.
- Gently peel the parchment back from the top layer, lay it back onto the dough, flip all of it over, and repeat with the bottom (now top) layer of parchment.
- Cover your dough with the other piece of parchment paper and place your flat crust in the fridge for 15 minutes while you prep your filling
- Preheat your oven to 400F
- Add your cream cheese to a bowl and sift in your powdered sugar. Use a spoon to blend together
- Trim the top and bottom off of each orange, then, using a pairing knife, carefully cut the skin of the orange (including the pith, aka the white stuff) from the orange. Work in a circular motion to trim this off, trying not to cut off any excess “meat”
- Once trimmed, place your oranges on their sides and cut into ½” discs
- Remove your dough from the fridge, peel the parchment off the top, and place onto your baking sheet, parchment side down
- To assemble for baking, spread your sweetened cream cheese in a circle in the center of your rolled dough, leaving about a 2-inch rim (where you don’t spread the cream cheese). Starting from the outside edge of your cream cheese, lay your orange discs in a spiral, with one edge slightly on top of the next, until you reach the center
- Carefully fold your crust over the edge of your oranges, leaving the middle open. As you fold it in, work in a circle to fold one section over the next so you don’t have any gaps. If your dough cracks a little, just pinch it together
- In a bowl, whisk together your egg and a splash of milk or water until combined. Brush your crust with your egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sugar
- Bake for 40-45 minutes until it is golden brown along the edges. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the pan for 15 minutes
- While your galette cools, make your salted caramel by combining your sugar and water in a big pot. Use the end of a spoon or a spatula to gently cover all the sugar with the water. It should look like wet sand. Make sure no sugar is stuck on the sides of the pot (not in the water), or it will burn
- In another small pot, add your heavy cream
- Place your pot with water and sugar on the stove over high heat. Do not stir!
- When your sugar-water mixture starts to turn lightly brown (straw-colored) around the edge, place your pot with heavy cream on another burner over med-high and heat until steaming
- Keep a close eye on your sugar/water mixture as it turns light brown. Once you see brown around the edges, keeping your pot flat on the stovetop, lightly swirl it to move the browning around and evenly color your liquid. Once it is the color of light wood, immediately remove it from heat (it will continue to brown in the pan) and place it on your counter.
- Carefully stream your scaling heavy cream into your browned sugar/water pot. It will bubble, so allow the bubbles to subside before continuing.
- Add in one piece of your lightly softened butter at a time, whisk in, and repeat until all is incorporated
- Sprinkle in your sea salt, whisk in
- Allow to sit for 5 minutes before giving a quick whisk and drizzling over your galette
- Slice and enjoy!
Notes
*If you have a food processor, pulse together your flour and salt before adding in your cubed cold butter. Pulse until combined and then add in your cold water and give a few more pulses. Pour into a large bowl and press the dough together with your hands to form a ball. Ever since I started using my food processor for dough making, I rarely go back to doing it manually, as it saves so much time!
*If you need to add more water to your dough, do it one tablespoon at a time. Four tablespoons should be enough, you might just need to press and squeeze it together a little more. You want the dough to be on the dryer side versus too wet.
*This crust has a lot of butter; it’s crucial that you place it in the fridge before you assemble and bake it so you don’t risk your butter melting out of your crust as soon as it hits the oven.
*Make sure your dough is no thicker than ⅛”; if it’s too thick, it will be overwhelming and likely won’t bake properly in the time allotted. Also, be sure not to roll it too thin, or it will be harder to handle and will likely burn
*Do not stir your caramel while it is cooking! This is a wet caramel, where the sugar is dissolved in water; stirring it while cooking will cause it to crystallize. Just keep a close eye on it
*As soon as your caramel reaches a light brown color, remove it from the heat immediately. It will continue to cook a little in the pan and will further darken
