Bake

Bourbon Apple Galette

by:
November 12, 2016
4
14 Ratings
Bourbon Apple Galette
Photo by James Ransom
  • Prep time 15 minutes
  • Cook time 30 minutes
  • Makes 1 square galette
Author Notes

A gorgeous galette that looks as good as it tastes—with a totally crispy crust and caramelized bourbon-infused sweetened apples. Easy enough to pull off in a pinch and pretty enough for a holiday table. —Erin Jeanne McDowell

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1/3 cup bourbon (78 g)
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter (42 g)
  • 1/3 cup dark brown sugar (71 g)
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch (7 g)
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon (3 g)
  • 3 large or 4 medium apples, peeled and cored (about 678 g)
  • 1 recipe All Buttah Pie Dough (https://food52.com/recipes...)
  • Egg wash, as needed for finishing
  • Turbinado sugar, as needed for finishing
Directions
  1. Preheat the oven to 425° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. In a small pot, bring the bourbon to a boil over medium heat. Reduce until there’s about 2 tablespoons of liquid remaining, then stir in the butter until it’s melted.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk the brown sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon to combine. Stir this into the bourbon-butter mixture and let cool completely.
  4. Cut the apples into quarters. Carefully slice each apple quarter into thin slices, doing your best to keep the section together while you slice (this makes it easier to fan the apples later).
  5. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thick. Transfer the dough to the prepared baking sheet, then use a pastry wheel to trim the edges so the dough is a square.
  6. Fan the apples out and place them randomly across the dough, leaving about 1 1/2 inches of uncovered dough all around the edge.
  7. Fold the sides of the square in over the apples, then fold the top and bottom down. Pinch a little bit at the edges to ensure they are secure.
  8. Carefully spoon the bourbon-sugar mixture over the apples evenly. Egg wash the edges of the dough and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
  9. Bake the galette until the crust is golden brown and the apples are very tender, 28 to 33 minutes.
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  • charles
    charles
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Erin Jeanne McDowell
I always have three kinds of hot sauce in my purse. I have a soft spot for making people their favorite dessert, especially if it's wrapped in a pastry crust. My newest cookbook, Savory Baking, came out in Fall of 2022 - is full of recipes to translate a love of baking into recipes for breakfast, dinner, and everything in between!

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33 Reviews

Beth100
Beth100 November 29, 2022
I made this twice. The filling is just amazing - it was the perfect complement to my favorite Northern Spy apples. Both of my crusts were disappointing, tough and bendy, more cracker than pastry. I used Kerrygold for one and regular American-style butter for the other. I followed along with one of Erin's videos while making them, am genuinely stumped as to what could have gone wrong. If, however, you are a successful pie crust maker, this galette will not disappoint!
 
shoepershopper
shoepershopper October 4, 2022
This is so incredibly wonderful. I will say that for my first attempt, I tried it with a Trader Joe's puff pastry b/c I didn't want to go to all the work of making a pie dough and then have this be an epic fail. So now that I know it's AH-mazing, next go round I'll do the all buttah pie dough.
 
Smaug
Smaug November 30, 2022
It's a decent enough crust, but I wish they'd do something about the name, which gets more annoying every time I see it.
 
charles
charles October 11, 2019
I used the All Buttah Pie Dough recipe, and almost everything worked out amazingly for the final product. The only real change I made was I didn't follow the tart like directions for the dough. Instead I did it more like a traditional galette, with the sides folded on top of all the contents. This was a combination of me not having a pie cutter and just not feeling comfortable with my dough forming skills.

My only complaint about this was that the bourbon didn't really come through on the final product; I used Makers Mark. When I make this again, and I will because we really enjoyed the dish, I will either use something with a stronger profile, maybe Jack Daniels, or I will use more Makers Mark, boil it down to the same amount, and hope it strengthens the bourbon flavor of the dish.

Also, I highly recommend serving this with a caramel sauce and whipped cream. I made an apple cider vinegar caramel sauce, and a whipped cream with a splash of vanilla extract.
 
bloftman@me.com
[email protected] October 27, 2020
Go Charles!
 
Heidi B.
Heidi B. December 28, 2017
This was a big hit. Needed to use up a Pillsbury crust, so didn't try your crust. Used half Granny Smith, half Honey crisp. It was lovely. Thanks so much for the recipe.
 
Deondré P.
Deondré P. December 25, 2017
Making this again but going to brown the butter :) 🤞🏾
 
Beth A.
Beth A. November 22, 2017
This was so easy and so terrific. I cheated and used puff pastry, so can't speak to the crust, but will try this with other fruit soon. The sauce would be good on ice cream too.
 
Mary B.
Mary B. September 30, 2017
I am using Trader Joe's puff pastry for this recipe. I am also going to reduce the cornstarch in the bourbon sauce and do what others have done which is put some almond flour under the apples. Bourbon, apples, brown sugar and cinnamon are winners!
 
kathy B.
kathy B. December 21, 2016
What kind of apples are folks using
 
Oaklandpat
Oaklandpat December 21, 2016
I used Pink Ladies. They worked well in this recipe.
 
Smaug
Smaug December 21, 2016
Granny Smith, unless you can get Pippins.
 
Raystil
Raystil November 29, 2016
A real kicker. Delicious. I tweaked a little on the way. Splashed some vanilla in.
Put down a thin layer of bananas before the the apples. Really really great.
 
LouLou
LouLou November 28, 2016
Truly delicious! I didn't have bourbon so I used Apple Jack.
 
Oaklandpat
Oaklandpat November 23, 2016
Can anyone clarify step 7 in the directions where it states, "Fold the top and bottom down.". Also, will this hold up over night if I make it today for Thanksgiving?
 
Smaug
Smaug November 23, 2016
Could have been better put- it just refers to two of the sides as top and bottom- you fold opposite sides first, then the other two.
 
Smaug
Smaug November 23, 2016
And yes, it holds up quite well. Considerably less moisture than the usual apple pie.
 
Oaklandpat
Oaklandpat November 24, 2016
A success! Thank you clarifying Smaug. Thanks for posting Erin... looking forward to trying your other pies.
 
Amy
Amy November 22, 2016
Would it be possible for me to use the recipe for the filling in a lattice-crust pie? I love the caramelized bourbon.
 
Smaug
Smaug November 23, 2016
No reason it wouldn't work; you might want to up quantities a bit- galettes usually have less filling than pies.
 
Amy
Amy November 23, 2016
Would you suggest that I double the quantity for the filling? How much do you think would be sufficient?
 
Smaug
Smaug November 23, 2016
Welll- if you have a regular apple pie recipe, I'd go by that- I usually use 5 apples- about 2 1/2 lbs., for a 9" pie, so I'd say maybe 1 1/2 times or so.
 
Smaug
Smaug November 21, 2016
I had seen the 1/4" figure before for galette doughs and found it improbable- since this one gave a specific amount of dough, I decided to give it a try. At 1/4" (with scraps reincorporated) it produced a 7 1/2" square- clearly inadequate. I rolled it out to 11" (still thicker than an average pie crust), which produced an 8" square galette, equivalent to a 9" round; this accommodated 3 medium/large apples nicely. The galette itself was quite good, although the total amount of butter is a bit much for my tastes. I subbed a mixture of rum and orange juice for the bourbon, that being what I had; can't say how it compares to the original, but worked well. Square galettes (and bourbon) seem to be trendy these days; they look interesting, but are a little clumsy to slice.
 
Smaug
Smaug December 6, 2016
I made a takeoff of this with some miniature pears (not Seckel, but along those lines) that worked pretty well. For the sugar mixture, I subbed 2Tb. maple syrup for the sugar (the pears were on the sweet side) and cut the butter to 2 Tb.- also added a touch of cardamom- worked very well. I used my own crust recipe (I found this recipe, while it worked very well, was softer than I like), adding a bit of Bourbon and a pinch of cinnamon and sugar. Also made it round- square is interesting once, but there's really no particular upside to it.
 
Andrea
Andrea November 20, 2016
I'm not wild about thickeners either - I use a thin layer of almond meal before placing the apples and it works nicely.
 
Michelle D.
Michelle D. November 20, 2016
Oh cool idea, thank you.
 
Deondré P.
Deondré P. November 20, 2016
Can't wait to try this!
Any bourbon suggestions? What apple did you use?
 
Karl R.
Karl R. December 3, 2016
I don't think this recipe will be too sensitive to the specific bourbon, the flavor is just a hint by the end. That said, my favorite good medium priced bourbon is Buffalo Trace.
 
Jan
Jan November 18, 2016
How do you serve a galette? I like the idea and the photos are nice but how do you get one to the table whole? Thanks.
 
Michelle D.
Michelle D. November 18, 2016
I usually serve mine on a nice cutting board--easy to slide off the parchment onto the board, and easy to cut.
 
Michelle D.
Michelle D. November 18, 2016
I love galettes and can't wait to make this but have one question: any way to omit the cornstarch and have it not be too runny? I am not a fan of it or of other thickeners like arrowroot. Thanks!
 
Jeff P.
Jeff P. November 19, 2016
Hi Michelle,

Can you tell me more about why you're not a fan of cornstarch or arrowroot? That would help me think of suggestions for alternatives. Both cornstarch and arrowroot are, essentially, "mostly starch" — they're better thickeners that flour, which is about half as effective as a thickener.

If you're "okay" with flour, then use 2 tablespoons flour instead of 1 tablespoon cornstarch for roughly the same thickening capability. Note, however, that the substitution won't be perfect -- you'll have a tablespoon of "non-starch stuff" that comes along for the ride in that flour and that will slightly alter the taste and texture.

best,
Jeff
 
Michelle D.
Michelle D. November 19, 2016
Hi Jeff,
I just don't enjoy the gooeyness they impart. Thanks for the suggestion!
Michelle