I didn’t believe in love at first sight until I saw a picture of Dutch banketstaaf (an almond paste-filled pastry log traditionally eaten at Christmas).
Unfortunately, banketstaaf’s season has come and gone; but now is the time for her more elegant French cousin, the traditional epiphany (Jan 6) galette des rois, to shine.
The seasonal delight, which is essentially a frangipane pie, translates to “king’s cake.” The cake usually contains a little figurine or charm; whoever finds it wears a paper crown for the day, having been crowned “king.”
Needless to say, Cordon Bleu-trained chef Mary Berry is a fan of the “French institution,” which is incidentally a great way to use up leftover puff pastry.
How’s it made?
Like Nigella, Mary Berry uses premade puff pastry for the seasonal recipe.
She preps a pie tin by lining it with pastry rolled “slightly thinner than a pound coin”; she then covers that in clingfilm, makes a pastry “lid” for the pie, and covers that in clingfilm too before chilling both ’til needed.
The filling couldn’t be easier, either.
Mary simply creams butter and sugar together, adding beaten egg and egg yolk one tablespoon at a time after the mixture has gone pale and fluffy.
Then, the ground and flaked almonds and almond extract are stirred in and the mixture is covered and chilled for 30 minutes.
Once the mix is placed between pastry layers, which are then scored and sealed with an egg glaze, the pie is chilled once more for about half an hour before going into a 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7 oven for 25-30 minutes.
As someone who tried this recipe over the last couple of days, I recommend you heed Nigella Lawson’s sage advice: “you’ll need to get the square wodges of puff [oastry] in 500g packets, since the ready-rolled kind isn’t big enough to line or cover the tin.”
How long has the tradition been going on?
According to French As You Like It, “The French have been serving up galette des rois since the 14th century.”
Some parts of France enjoy a shortcrust, rather than puff, pastry cover, they add.
It’s made to celebrate the “epiphany,” or the date Christians believe the three kings met Jesus (hence, “king’s cake”).
And it officially marks the end of the 12 days of Christmas ― bittersweet, right?