Saturday, June 22, 2013

FFwD: Sablé Breton Galette with Berries


Today´s recipe for the French Fridays with Dorie group, is a French specialty from Brittany, namely Sablé Breton Galette with Berries.




This shortbread like butter cookie base has so few ingredients that you cannot get away with cutting corners, good quality butter and flour are essential, and plenty of them. Other than flour and butter, you will need some baking powder, fleur de sel and one large egg.  I made an effort to get farm fresh butter for these and substituted the regular white all purpose flour with artisanal spelt flour and I did add some homemade vanilla sugar to the dough as well.




Do make sure to treat the dough gently, chill it for a good three hours and bake the cookies for a good thirty minutes (since I used mini heart shaped fluted tart pans with removeable bottoms instead one large tart pan – these were done in less time than provided for in the recipe).




While the dough for the cookies is chilling, you can prepare the lovely lemon curd. Again, with plenty of quality ingredients such as farm fresh eggs, sugar, organic lemon juice, a bit of light corn syrup (I used maple syrup – no corn syrup to be found anywhere around here and I much prefer maple syrup anyways) and good fresh butter. You can speed up the chilling time by preparing an ice bath for the curd, that way, the curd will have settled and cooled by the time the cookie hearts bake and have had time to cool completely as well. Of course, you are free to make the lemon curd a day in advance, put it in a jar and place it in the fridge overnight. Spread some curd on the cooled cookie base and top the cookie hearts with seasonal fruits of your choice. Homemade lemon curd is quick and easy and so much more mouthwatering than the store bought variety. In addition to spreading the lemon curd on these delicious and buttery French treats, you will certainly find endless other fabulous uses for the curd, such as serving it with vanilla ice cream.




To keep up the French theme (and colors) of this wonderful recipe, I used blueberries and big fat blackberries – while the blackberry bushes in the garden do not bear ripe fruits yet, I did find some nice ones at the store – the tiny wood (wild) strawberries, however, are from our garden, they must be my favorite berries of all times. Whatever berries you use, try to use a medley of blue and red berries to make these Sablés stand out – blueberries, strawberries and blackberries or raspberries all work well.




This rich home baked treat was a real crowd pleaser and the shortbread like cookie hearts filled the kitchen with a wonderful buttery freshly baked smell. The cookie hearts taste dense and rich since they are made with such a generous amount of butter, that does not really come as a surprise. The butter also gives these cookies their melt-in-the-mouth texture. The cookies are pale golden brown in color and taste a bit nutty from the spelt flour (my latest food obsession) that I used. The lemon curd cuts nicely through the richness of the buttery dough and the fruits are just an utter summery delight as a topping.




If you are interested to take a look at how the other members of the French Fridays with Dorie Group interpreted this recipe, click here.



49 comments:

  1. I love the shape Andrea, and you´re right about using fresh and good ingredients. They look adorable! Have a good weekend my friend!

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    1. Thank you, Paula, I had been staring at these heart shaped molds for the longest time - enough staring, it was time to put them to good use and this reipe was just perfect, the cookie bases unmolded like a charm and tasted wonderful too - I am sure that using farm fresh butter, eggs, organic lemons and artisinal spelt flour made them even more delicious.

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  2. Oh my lord! How utterly perfect.

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    1. Thank you very much - it was fun using those cute mini tart pans and the taste testers thought the Sablé Breton with Berries was delightful served in individual serving.

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  3. Truly beautiful, Andrea! I love the heart-shaped tins you used, and your choice of berries on the lemon curd is perfect. This is the time to get out the beurre Président for sure. I just got some artisanal flour at the farmers market and I think I will make these for our guests this week!

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    1. David, thank you very much for the kind comment - those artisinal flours make me bake even more and my current craze is "spelt flour" or "Dinkelmehl" as we call it here from my newly discovered artisinal mill - I believe, I have found yet another new passion.

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    2. As spelt pasta has become very popular here, I will have to keep my eyes open for some Dinkelmel. Maybe it is available and I just haven't seen it! Bis Spater!

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  4. So sweet and beautiful in the heart shapeds... I think I have some of those. Thanks for the inspiration.

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    1. Thank you, Diane, if you do find those pans, this would be a nice recipe to try them out with - once the dough has had a chance to cool down properly, it is perfect for fitting it into these mini pans - I weighed the pieces of unbaked dough before baking so I would have even sized hearts.

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  5. I LOVE, love your minis!!! Styled to perfection!!!

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    1. Liz, thank you very much for that lovely comment - nice to read that you like those mini pans, I guess they were just waiting to be put to some pretty use and this recipe was it.

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  6. Those mini hearts are adorable, Andrea! I'm sure the farm fresh butter put this over the top. I have never tried spelt flour, but that sounds like something I'd like to experiment with. I hope you have a great weekend.

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    1. Betsy, thank you for the lovely comment - the spelt flour that we get here is available in three different varieties, I haven taken to use the "Type 1050" - it it a bit darker than regular flour and this type can be used 1:1 with regular all purpose flour - but you do have to keep in mind that baked goods with spelt flour tend to get dry the next day - no problem here, these Sablés did not last for more than a few hours.

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  7. Andrea, you have created such a beautiful presentation - the heart shaped galettes are really gorgeous!
    Mary x
    ps I'm so glad the muffins turned out well!

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    1. Mary, thank you very much - the blueberry muffins with almonds were delicious and moist and the kids really enjoyed them - thanks again for the recipe. The heart shaped galettes were fun to bake and even better to eat.

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  8. So cute! The lemon curd with the berries and shortbread sound like an amazing combination. I have just started using spelt flour in my bread but I have not tried it in my other baking yet.

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    1. Karen, thank you for the comment - spelt flour is a nice alternative to all purpose flour but I do not use it in all my baking but mostly for very buttery cakes and cookies - so for this recipe it was just perfect.

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  9. I have heart-shaped cake pans, the same size as yours, but they do not have removeable bottoms. I like your tarts. Your spelt flour interested me and I am happy to tell you that I always have a supply of vanilla sugar on hand. Love to poke those pods into a sugar container. I used blackberries also - our fruit is starting to be beautiful and flavorful. Michael and I always had lovely raspberry bushes here but I was less successful with Fraise des Bois. I would get a few berries each year and they were fabulous. As always, I admire how you use your local products. Wonderful post. I finally have a box together (of things I was bringing you and the girls) and will get to the post office and get it mailed this week, hopefully Monday. Will let you know when it is officially mailed.

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    1. Mary, when I made these little cookie hearts I realized they they did not stick the least bit to the pans, therefore, this recipe will certainly work with pans that do not have a removeable bottom - so, you can go ahead and bake this wonderful recipe again using your pans! The berry season is just the best and I was delighted to see that the Doristas were so enthusiastic about this recipe and used a ton of them. Goodness, you just reminded me of the parcel I was supposed to mail to you with all the things from Bonn - it will be on its way very soon!

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  10. Oh I love your lovely tart pans…such beautiful little galettes! I have never used spelt flour…interesting. I will have to buy a bag and give it a try. As always your photos are just gorgeous!! Have a wonderful weekend, Andrea!

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    1. Kathy, thank you very much for the kind words - spelt flour is wonderful in some buttery baked goods, besides it is always nice to be using different ingredients every once in a while.

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  11. As usual, I feel like I just read through an amazing magazine layout ! :) You always do such a thorough job in sourcing your wonderful ingredients and then presenting everything so beautifully. I am even more embarrassed that I did not find the time to knock out this one myself, but I can assure you that I will be back to prepare the galette as well as that amazing lemon curd. And I ate a shameless amount of Nana's galette(s) this week- that I DID find time for :) Gorgeous pans, book prop and colors of berries. Love the little forest strawberries- adorable. All the best ~

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    1. Tricia, you are such a kind person and you always make me extremly happy when I read your thoughful comments - hopefully you will spend the best of times in France with your mum and have lots of pictures when you come back! Wishing you safe travels, tons of great food, incredible sights and so much more!

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  12. Oh, I have to find some heart shaped tart pans. Those are lovely.

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    1. Thank you kindly, heart shaped pans can be hard to find, I got lucky and could not resist, in fact, it seems that I can never resist cake pans.

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  13. That looks absolutely beautiful. Will you be able to share the recipe? I would love to make this for my baby shower.

    PS: It's giveaway time on my blog! Hope you join: http://www.underlockandkeyblog.com/2013/06/angelorian-tradition-giveaway.html

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    1. Trishie, how nice that you like these little galettes and how wonderful that you are considering serving them at your baby shower - I will mail the link to the recipe to you a.s.a.p. and yes, it will be my pleasure to participate in your giveaway!

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  14. Hi Andrea! Hope you're having a wonderful summer so far. Children are out of school and my life has been chaotic and going to Japan tomorrow... I really love shortbread (probably little bit more than cookies, to tell you the truth). The butter flavor is amazing and I totally understand why we can't cut corners... I would love to eat this delicious dessert - dreaming we're neighbors.. :)

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    1. Nami, how wonderful that you will be travelling to Japan, I so wish I could comle along, at least for a few days - whar I would not give to be able to visit Japan! And what an utterly kind thing to say about being neighbours - you more than made my day, dear friend!
      Wishing you a most wonderful time with your family in Japan and hope to see tons of pictures soon!
      Take care and safe travels!

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  15. Oh, Andrea - such a sweet presentation.
    Your post reminded me of the wild strawberries that used to grow in the field behind my parent's house. I can't remember ever having any berries as sweet as those little ones.

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    1. Cher, you are very kind, thank you - these days it is almost impossible to find wild strawberries and they have the most amazing taste! They are the best berries ever and I will try to "plant" some next year.

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  16. Oh, you have got to be kidding! Those are gorgeous. Your crust is perfect - not a flaw or blip in sight. Lemon curd and berries, a match made in heaven. Oh, but those are glorious. A job well done - and I hear you about primo ingredients - they make all the difference in the world. Your styling and photography, as always, are stellar. Brava!

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    1. Grazie mille per i complementi, Adri! Love your wonderful comments - what a joy to read that you enjoy my photography as well as the styling! The best ingredienst that you can afford are always important but even all the more important the less ingredients the recipe has.

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  17. This small hearts look so beautiful in all settings in the photos, I could steal one or two to eat right now ;) Sweet on the inside and on the outside, perfect fruit topping and all! Nice job ;)
    Boa semana!
    Inês

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    1. Muito obrigado, Inês! So kind of you to drop by and leave such a lovely comment - I am sure you would enjoy these little galettes with a bit of lemon curd and lots of fresh berries - not too sweet, just right and seasonal to boot!

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  18. These look so cute and classy! I love the idea of maple syrup in the lemon curd, delicious.

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    1. Thank you, Ashley, these galettes were kind of cute and the maple syrup in the lemon curd added just a bit of lovely sweetness - lemon and maple goes very well together.

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  19. These photos are amazing! Love the warm, cozy feel in them, especially that blue plate

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    1. Thanks so much - that vintage blue enamel plate is a favorite of mine as well.

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  20. Aww, these little heart shaped versions are adorable!

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    1. Thanks - glad that you like the heart shape versions too!

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  21. Your little galettes are beautiful and I loved the Bretagne book sitting beside them. With all your very fresh ingredients, they must have been tender and delicious. Makes me start thinking of visiting France again. :)

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    1. Karen, lovely comment, thank you - so nice that you noticed the travel book from Bretagne on the pictures and like the presentation!

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  22. Andrea, these are lovely. I could eat them ALL!

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    1. Colette, I see that you changed the name of your blog...lovely...I am sure that you would enjoy these.

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  23. These Sablé Breton Galette with Berries are so beautiful. I agree with you. Good quality ingredients totally make a difference in the end result, especially when the ingredient list is short. :)

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    1. Amy, thanks very much - nice to read that you like the presenatations of these summery galettes.

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  24. Just adorable! And I love all the flavours in this dessert - I know it would be something I love!

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    1. Beth, the flavors are quite nice - there is the nutty spelt flour base, the tangy lemon curd and the sweetness of the seasonal berries - overall a real hit at our house.

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