Rustic Apple Galette

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The perfect holiday centerpiece (and delicious to boot), this rustic apple galette will wow your guests and keep them coming back for seconds (and thirds) all day long.

Apple is a quintessential holiday pie. As Thanksgiving approaches, apple pie and pumpkin pie each vie for first place in the dessert lineup. Now I love a good pumpkin pie, and I have an excellent Pumpkin Pie Bars with Shortbread Crust recipe, but today’s spotlight is solely focused on the apple. This stunning rustic apple galette features four colors of flavorful apples, an all-butter pie crust, and a simply sugar + spice mix sprinkled over and under the fruit. In other worlds, it is exactly what your holiday feast is calling for.

What you’ll need to make this rustic apple galette:

Red, yellow, green, and multi-colored apples (1 medium-large one of each)

Granulated sugar (for the pie crust and the sugar/spice mixture)

Dark brown sugar (my favorite, although light or golden would work perfectly fine as well)

Ground cinnamon

Ground nutmeg

Salt

Fresh lemon juice

All purpose flour (you can use any 1:1 ratio gluten free flour as a substitute here)

Salted butter (plant based butter is a perfect alternative here, I love Miyokos)

Cold water

One egg, beaten, for the egg wash (sub in almond or coconut milk for a vegan wash)

The Pie Crust

This is my classic pie crust, and it’s made with four simple ingredients. Flour, butter, sugar, and cold water are the only items needed to make a buttery and perfectly balanced pie crust for any filling you can dream up.

I use a standing mixer, but you can use a pastry cutter and cut the butter into the flour by hand. If using a mixer, add the flour and sugar the bowl, and give it a toss with the paddle attachment. Cut the butter into small chunks, ensuring that it is cold and directly from the refrigerator. Add the cubes of butter and allow the mixture to mix on low until a wet-sand-like texture forms. Add the water, and mix until dough forms. Roll out onto a floured surface into about a 10 inch circle.

The Filling

You will want your apples to be ripe, and thus crispy and sweet. Begin by slicing them off the cores, and cutting the chunks into thin slices. Toss the slices in a bowl with the lemon juice. This will keep them from browning as you work. Add the ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Sprinkle half of the sugar mixture onto the circular crust, and then arrange the apples peel side up in sections by color. Sprinkle the remaining half of the sugar mixture all over the tops and sides of the apples.

Gently fold the crust in about 1 inch over the apples, and ensure that is is pinched together so it doesn’t come undone. Beat the egg in a small bowl, and brush the crust with the egg (you will not use all of the egg, discard the reminder). Bake at 400°F for 40-45 minutes, covering the galette with tinfoil at the 30 minute mark so the crust does not burn. Remove it from the oven and allow it to cool slightly, about 15 minutes. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

The Dietary Substitutes

I love providing gluten and dairy free substitutions so that those with alternate dietary needs can enjoy my recipes to their fullest! These are subs that I have either use and continue to stock in my own home, or that have come highly recommended from others. I want your baking experience to be the best it can be, and avoiding gluten or dairy shouldn’t hinder that process in the slightest. 

As always, here is a list of tried and true dietary substitutes, so that you can enjoy this recipe without the additions of gluten or dairy: 

Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten Free Baking Flour is a wonderful all-purpose sub, and it’s cup for cup, so use the same measurements as you would all-purpose flour.

Miyokos Butter is a plant based brick that closely resembles dairy butter not only in its look, but it’s taste as well. It melts, browns, and spreads just like real butter, and truly is a fantastic substitute in this recipe. Use it as a 1:1 ratio sub, same as the flour, so the recipe measurements will not change. 

If you want to make this entirely vegan, you can omit the egg wash and brush on a bit of coconut or almond milk instead.

I hope you love this rustic galette! It’s sure to be a staple in our home, and I would love to see yours if you bake one up… simply tag me on your socials with #HHBBAKES or send me a photo to the email on the contact page.

XO,

Heather