Saturday Cooking Extravaganza Part 4: Pear Galette

In the spirit of Valentine's Day, I made a dessert!  That's highly unusual for me because my only defense against not over indulging in sweets is simply not making them.  This Pear Galette from Family Circle magazine was fun to make and we are still enjoying it today warmed in the microwave and with some honey flavored Greek yogurt and fresh blueberries on the side.

Pear Galette
Serves 8

Dough:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp. cornstarch
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 3/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 12 tsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 7 to 9 tbsp. ice water
• Flour, for dusting

Pear Filling:

• 4 medium-size ripe Bartlett pears (about 2 lbs.)  (I substituted D'anjou.)
• 1 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 3 tbsp. sugar
• 2 tbsp. apricot preserves

1.  Dough:  Place flour, cornstarch, sugar, cinnamon and salt in the bowl of a food processor.  Add butter pieces and pulse 10 times or until butter pieces are about 1/2-inch big.  Add ice water 1 tbsp. at a time, then pulse until dough looks ragged and holds together when pinched.
 (I don't have a large enough food processor so I did my best with my stand mixer and a pastry blender.)

2.  Turn dough out onto floured work surface and knead for 30 seconds.  Form into a 4-inch square; wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 45 minutes.

3.  Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Place a piece of parchment on a 12x17-inch rimmed baking sheet and sprinkle it with flour; set aside.  Place dough on floured work surface and sprinkle with flour.  Roll with a floured rolling pin to about 12x15 inches.  Transfer dough to parchment paper on baking pan.  Roll up a 1/2-inch border all the way around, pressing edge tightly to adhere to dough.

4.  Filling:  Peel pears and remove core and stem, then cut lengthwise into 1/8-inch-thick slices.  Layer pears over dough, overlapping slightly.  Sprinkle with butter pieces and sugar.

5.  Bake galette at 400 degrees for about 70 minutes or until lightly browned.  Meanwhile, stir together apricot preserves and 1 tbsp. water in a small bowl.  Microwave for 30 seconds.

6.  Remove galette from oven and place on wire rack to cool.  Brush with apricot mixture.

1/8 of galette:  358 cal; 19g fat (12g sat.); 46g carbs; 4g fiber; 150mg sodium; 49mg chol.