Fig and Frangipane Galette with Honey Crème Fraîche

by Jeff Mosher

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Yield: 8 individual galettes

Ingredients

24-32 ripe figs, depending on size
1 egg, beaten with 1 T water (egg wash)
2 T raw sugar

Galette Dough
2 C all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
1 T sugar
8 oz. butter (cut into small pieces and held in freezer prior to making the dough)
1 egg
4 ½ T ice water

Frangipane
1 C sliced almonds
1 C sugar
9 T butter (at room temp)
3 eggs
½ t vanilla extract
¼ t almond extract
2 T orange flavored liqueur

Honey Crème Fraîche
1 C crème fraîche
2 T honey

Method

Galette Dough
Combine in a food processor the flour, salt, and sugar. Process for 10 seconds to mix. Add cold butter and pulse until butter is chopped into the flour and is the size of peas, approx. 30 seconds. Mix the egg with the ice water and add to the food processor, process until combined, approx. 30 seconds. It will look very crumbly. Transfer to a work surface and press the dough together into a 6-8” disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 1 hour. Portion the dough into 8 pieces and roll out to 6” circles. At this point the galettes can be assembled or frozen.

Frangipane
Combine almonds and sugar in a food processor and process until the almonds are chopped. Add the other ingredients and process until combined, approx. 1 minute. Transfer to the refrigerator until ready to use.

Honey Crème Fraiche
Combine honey and crème fraiche and whisk together until soft peaks have formed. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Assembling the Galettes
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Place 1 T of the frangipane into the middle of 1 galette shell, spread it out on the dough leaving a 1” border of dough. Slice 2-3 figs and fan them out on the dough, starting from the middle and working in a circular pattern. Leave the 1” border, and then pull that border up to the fig filling in 1” sections, crimping each 1” piece as you go and creating a folded look to the pastry crust. Brush the pastry border with the egg wash and sprinkle the pastry border with the raw sugar. Repeat with the other pastry shells.
Put the assembled galettes onto a baking tray with parchment paper and bake for 15 minutes. Rotate the pan, turn the oven down to 350 degrees, and bake an additional 15-20 minutes or until the pastry crust looks golden brown on the sides and bottom. Remove from the oven and let cool.
Slice the remaining figs and top the galettes with the raw figs and a dollop of the honey crème fraiche. Serve immediately. Bon Appetit!

Chef Notes
This simple fig galette is all about seasonal cooking. Right now, we are harvesting two kinds of figs from our trees here at the winery, and this happens to coincide with the Sauvito release, which is perfect since the natural sweetness of the figs is delicious with this complex wine. The figs cooked in the galette become almost a fig jam while baking, creating a depth of flavor which is pleasantly contrasted with the fresh ripe figs on top. The buttery, flaky, golden pastry crust is fantastic with the toast elements in the wine, and the hint of orange in the frangipane coaxes some of the candied orange peel flavor out of the wine. The crème fraîche adds acid and honey, bringing the dish into balance and mirroring the honey elements in the wine.

We intentionally do not add much additional sugar to the dessert, letting the natural sweetness of the figs and the honey come forward. One of our principles regarding desserts and sweet wines is to make the dessert less sweet than the wine, which helps you fully taste the wine. If the dessert is too sweet, then it detracts from the full enjoyment of the wine.