Sweet Cherry Galette
Richly fruity with a slightly sweetened crunchy crust, a sweet cherry galette may be the hit of the summer picnic season. Or breakfast. Or dessert. 
Today I made… probably my 8th galette of the summer. Can’t get too much of a good thing!
After I developed my blueberry galette for the blog, I couldn’t stop making it. I made it for photo students shooting the milky way. For 4th of July parties. For book club. And just for funsies!
Sweet Cherry Galette!
I think it’s time to switch things up! How about a sweet cherry galette!
I was pretty nervous trying a new fruit galette, since I’d recently had a “failure” with raspberries. While my raspberry galette was nice enough, and not a scrap was left, it just lacked the punch of the blueberry version. How would the cherries fare?
Mmm!
I have some very specific feelings about what fruits to use in galettes versus pies. It’s all based on fruit to crust ratios. If a fruit isn’t pretty intense (like blueberries), I feel it’s overpowered by the abundant crust in a galette. But that same intense fruit can be almost cloying with the lower crust ratio of a pie. So, my blueberries go into galettes and my peaches into pie.
I though cherries would do well in galettes. But then I had thought that about raspberries…
Served!
Along the way, I did end up changing the original recipe slightly to better match the cherries. I swapped out the cinnamon accent for vanilla. And since I used sweet cherries, I reduced the sugar. Then I did a little research on the butter that traditionally dots fruit in pies. I’d like to say it was in the interest of science, but really I kept forgetting it and didn’t know if that was serious.
Well, it turns out, the reason for using butter in pies was because it was supposed to keep any foaming down. For any canners out there, that’s a bit like the dot of butter on the top of a fruit jam. But when Cooks Illustrated actually ran a test, dotting with butter made no difference for either foaming or flavor. So out it came!
Happy summer!
In the end, my new Sweet Cherry Galette was a big hit! There were three of us home–and while we really did feel we should save some, no one could resist seconds. In minutes, the pie was gone.
Done with galette #8, I did feel a bit like the old 60s pop song—something tells me I’m into something good!
Sweet Cherry Galette
Ingredients
- 3 cups sweet cherries fresh or frozen, see note for sour cherries
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon lime zest
- 1 Tablespoon lime juice
- 3 Tablespoons tapioca or 2 T cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 pie crust your favorite homemade or commercial
- 1 egg
- 1 Tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon coarse sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- In a medium sized bowl, combine the cherries, tapioca or cornstarch, vanilla, sugar, lime juice and lime zest.
- Place the round of crust on a rimmed baking sheet (in case any juices run off). You can line with a Silpat or parchment paper if you like.
- Spoon mixture into the middle of the crust leaving about 2" around the edge.
- Fold the edges over and pinch to close.
- Whisk the egg and water in a small bowl. Brush onto the crust then sprinkle with coarse sugar.
- Bake about 30 minutes until the crust is golden brown and the fruit is bubbling along the edges.
- Cool, then serve with whipped cream or ice cream.
When you’re into something good you need to keep going! We love fresh cherries and tend to buy too much when they are on sale only to find that we can’t eat them all. This galette looks scrumptious!! I need to make this galette the next time I need to use up cherries!
I bought a cherry pitter on a whim a few years back and its made a big difference in using them. One of my CSAs goes to a (relatively) local orchard and brings back the cherries in bulk so that helps with the cost.
Wow…8th galette? this cherry one, looks delicious Inger…I only experimented with apple galette…I am due to try with all other fruits…thanks for the inspiration.
Have a wonderful weekend!
I think I’m doing Mulberry next. I have some left frozen from last year’s harvest. So I’d say “go for it” Juliana!
I am okay with any fruit in a galette vs. two-crust pie. Yes, even peaches, although I mix them often with other fruits (like raspberries!!!). One thing about raspberries (I find) is that they need additional flavor boosts when cooked.
I love galettes because they reduce the fat of a pie… half the crust intake is a good thing! Also, for some reason, I use less sugar in a galette than in a pie. Go figure.
As always, your photos are gorgeous, and the galette looks… well… good enough to eat off my screen!
I’m loving the perspectives on raspberries I’m getting here! You know I actually have the calories in crust memorized, so I totally get the not wanting to double them!
I think raspberries just don’t do well in baking. This looks amazing and reminds me of France 🙂 PS, which recipe plugin do you use?
Hmm, that’s interesting on the raspberries. The plugin is RecipeCard. I like that it has nutrition information.