Chocolate cherry galette

Cocoa powder and coffee give great flavour to the pastry, which goes very well with cherries. You can use fresh or frozen fruit in this rustic pie.

Credit: Mary Makes It Easy

• serves

  8

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  40 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

Pastry

• 1¾ cups (227 g) plain flour
• ¼ cup (30 g) cocoa powder
• 1½ tbsp (13 g) sugar
• ½ tsp kosher salt
• ¾ cup (168 g) cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
• 90-125 ml (4½ tbsp-½ cup) cold coffee

Filling

• 4 cups (about 600 g) cherries, see note
• ¾ cup (150 g) sugar
• 1½ tbsp (16 g) corn flour (cornstarch)
• ¼ tsp nutmeg
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 3 tsp (15 ml) brandy or kirsch, optional
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Topping

• 1 egg
• 3 tsp (15 ml) milk or water
• 3 tsp turbinado sugar

Chilling time: at least 2 hours, or up to 24 hours.

Instructions

1. For the pastry, add the flour, cocoa powder, sugar and salt to a large bowl and stir to combine. Add in the butter and, using your fingers, press and snap the butter in until the pieces are no bigger than a chickpea. Pour over 4½ tablespoons (90 ml) of cold coffee and mix just until the dough looks crumbly but holds together when squeezed, adding more coffee as needed.
2. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and lightly knead a few times to form a ball. Wrap in a piece of plastic, press into a 2.5 cm (1 inch) thick disk, and transfer to the fridge for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours to rest, rechill the fat, and hydrate the flour.
3. Meanwhile, make the filling by pitting the cherries. If you do not have a cherry pitter, pit the cherries by placing on top of an empty wine bottle and piercing through the cherry with a chopstick – this will get a bit messy so be careful of splatter. The pit will fall into the wine bottle, leaving you with a perfectly pitted cherry. Transfer the pitted cherries into a bowl.
4. Add the sugar, corn flour (cornstarch), nutmeg and salt to the bowl and stir to combine. Stir in the lemon juice, brandy (if using) and vanilla.
5. Arrange your oven rack to the lowest position and heat it to 200°C (400°F). Line a baking sheet (sheet pan) with baking (parchment) paper.
6. Lightly dust a work surface with flour and roll the pastry out into a 5-6 mm (¼ inch) thick circle. The shape does not have to be exact. Transfer the dough to the paper-lined baking sheet and spoon the cherry filling in the centre, leaving about a 7.5 cm (3 inch) boarder all the way around. Fold the edges of the pastry up over the fruit to form a crust.
7. In a small bowl, beat together the egg and milk or water to make an egg wash and brush over the pastry. Scatter with turbinado sugar.
8. Bake on the bottom rack of your oven for 35-40 minutes or until the pastry is crisp.
9. Allow the galette to cool completely before slicing and serving.

Note

• If fresh cherries aren’t available, thawed frozen cherries will work well. As frozen cherries produce more juice when thawed, strain away the juice (I like to save it to add to cocktails or soda water) and add another 3 tsp of corn flour (cornstarch) to the mixture.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.