On the 6th January, Epiphany day, the Northern
French prepare the "galette des rois",
a frangipani core encased in puff pastry. This cake is only baked around that
date and is eagerly waited for. In the frangipani is hidden a 'feve', a trinket
in the shape of a little ceramic figure (originally it was a coin or a bean).
In Britain where people are a bit too safety conscious, I use a whole almond.
The person who finds the
trinket is crowned a king with a golden paper crown these days! Epiphany
day has its roots in the pagan world that predates the biblical changes. Local customs vary in the different European regions.
A lot of French people now buy it from the baker, but it tastes best homemade, and it is so easy that it's worth the bother.
Ingredients
- 2 sheets ready rolled of puff pastry for the laziest, or a ready-made frozen slab for the more courageous or even for the bravest, homemade puff pastry. Buy gluten free puff pasty - it is now readily available in supermarkets (in the UK anyway)
- 140g ground almond
- 100g soften butter
- 100g sugar
- 2 eggs + 1 white
- 1 yolk + a spoon of milk
- 1tspn orange blossom water (or rum) (+ 2 drops of vanilla extract optional)
- 1 whole almond (or a trinket if you have one)
Mix the butter and the sugar until the mix whitens, then add the beaten eggs and the ground almond, orange blossom water, mix well.
In the middle of the first sheet of puff pastry, pour the mix. Lay the second sheet on top, and roll the sides of the sheets together towards the inside to seal the galette.
With a knife, draw diagonal lines in both direction (so that they cross each other) to create the pattern. Then with a brush, spread the yolk on the whole cake to give it a golden colour.
Put in an over for 30 minutes at 200 degrees Serve hot, but it is excellent cold too. Maybe you will find the trinket and be the king, like I was today!....
5 comments:
longue vie à la reine ! :o)
I didn't get the trinket but enjoyed the "galette" anyway. Nice recipe ...we don't have to wait until next year to eat galette ? do we ..
Merci :) he he he!
Please please don't wait till next year! eat lots of galettes, get fed up with it (hum, yes, difficult..) and start again next year! yummy! :)
Wow - those trinkets are fancy. When I was little, they were simple and all white (and you could easily swallow them)
Happy New Year Christelle! I really like those cute little trinkets. By the way, I will be going back to Kuala Lumpur tomorrow. Can't wait to indulge myself in all the yummy food. Check out my blog later as I will be putting up some pictures of my trip home :) :)
To Manger La Ville: I remember the ones you are talking about, I haven't seen them for ages! they represented the character from the creche. The trinkets are even fancier now, but I only get some my mum gets me, since I don't live in France anymore. They have gold plated ones, disney characters, I suspect pokemons too, lol! I've never seen a coin shaped one, but that would be great!
To Icook4fun: Happy new year to you too! I was depreived of the internet for two weeks at Christmas, that was a long ungeeky break!
Ah I'm so jealous especially because I missed KL last June...Make the most of it, I am looking forward to the photos with great impatience, have a wonderful trip! :)))
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