This apple galette is an easy rustic dessert. It is filled with tasty fall apples in a flaky pie crust for a lazy apple pie. Top if off with ice cream or caramel sauce or enjoy it plain for a delicious autumn dessert.
A galette, also called a crostata, is one of my favorite desserts to make for my family. They are a quick dessert that tastes delicious and looks pretty.
These rustic tarts are filled with fruit, like blackberry galette and blueberry galette. This apple galette recipe is a little different from my berry galettes because apples are less juicy. But the basic process is very similar!
Why You Will Love This Apple Galette
- Quick to make
- Low effort dessert that is hard to mess up
- Flaky, buttery crust
- Don’t need to roll out perfect circular crusts
- Delicious fall flavors
Homemade or Pre-made Crust?
You can either make your own pie crust or use a premade refrigerator pie crust for this galette recipe. I’ve done both and both work well.
If you use a premade crust it makes the recipe about 10 minutes faster. But if you are ever going to make your own homemade pie crust a galette recipe is the perfect place to do it!
Galettes have the advantage that they are supposed to be free form crusts. So the crust can have ragged edges or be oval shaped or even rectangular.
Imperfections in the crust simply add to the charm of the dessert! So if you have been thinking about trying to make a pie crust a galette is an excellent opportunity.
I include a recipe card for a single crust pie crust below and if you need more detailed step by step instructions check out the full blog post here.
Ingredients
- Pie crust
- Apples – See below for a discussion of the best type of apples to use.
- Sugar – Apples are sweet, but a little bit of sugar makes a big taste difference.
- Flour – The flour thickens the apples.
- Apple pie spice – You can substitute a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice.
Best Type of Apples for Galettes and Pies
The type of apple you use can make a difference in how the galette comes out. The standard pie apple, and the one in my pictures is Granny Smith.
Granny Smith apples are very firm so they hold up well to baking and make a delicious galette. They are also easy to find in almost any supermarket almost any time of the year.
My favorite apple to use for galettes is actually Honeycrisp. It is a little bit sweeter than Granny Smith, but it isn’t in stores year round, so I use it if I can.
The most important thing is to choose an apple that won’t break down as it cooks. If you use a soft apple like a McIntosh apples the filling breaks down and is more like applesauce, not layers of apples.
If you are fortunate enough to live in an apple growing area where there are lots of choices in the fall here are some other good baking varieties you can look for:
- Northern Spy – This one is tough to find, but my mother-in-law says it is the best!
- Ida Red
- Rome
- Golden Delicious
- Ginger Gold
- Jonagold
- Braeburn
Step by Step Instructions
1. Prepare the Crust
Roll the crust out to about 1/8 inch thick on a floured surface, whether it is homemade pie crust or pre-made crust. If you’d like step by step instructions for making the pie crust see my post here.
Once you have the crust ready transfer it to the surface the galette will bake on. You can use a baking sheet or a cast iron skillet as I did here.
The cast iron skillet has the advantage of having sides, so if the galette leaks a little bit it doesn’t drip all over the oven!
2. Prepare the Apples
Peel, core and slice the apples. This is the most time consuming part of the recipe.
I have an apple corer/peeler which makes it very quick and easy and results in very uniformly sliced apples. So if make as many apple recipes as I do you might want to get one of these!
Put the apples in a bowl and add the flour and sugar. Then toss them to coat. Add the apple pie spice to the bowl and mix everything together again.
3. Make the Galette
Pile the apples in the center of the pie crust. You can arrange them nicely in a pretty design with slices radiating out from the middle.
But you can also just dump them in the center if you want. Make sure you leave about 1 inch of crust open around the edge of the galette.
Carefully fold the edges of the crust up and over the apple mixture. Crimp the edges as you go.
4. Bake the Galette
Bake the apple galette in a preheated 375 degree oven for about 45-50 minutes. When it is done the crust will be browned and the apple filling will be a little bubbly.
How to Serve
This is delicious served warm or cold. I love to top it with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. And of course bourbon caramel sauce goes amazingly well on any apple dessert.
But you don’t have to top it with anything, it tastes delicious by itself. If you don’t add any toppings you can just pick a piece up and eat it like a slice of pizza – no silverware or plates are needed!
The flaky and buttery crust contrasts beautifully with the crisp and juicy apples. It gives you all the flavor of pie with less effort!
How to Store
A galette isn’t large and I find my family of five usually polished one off in one sitting. But if you do have leftovers keep them well covered at room temperature for 1-2 days.
Can I Make This Ahead?
You can make this a day or 2 ahead of time. The crust will start to get less crispy as it sits.
If you want to make it ahead a good option is to have the crust and filling ready and in the refrigerator. Then you can assemble the galette and bake it quickly.
Apple Galette Tips
Don’t over stuff the galette with filling! It can be tempting to assume that if some apples are good, more apples would be even better.
And can work with an apples pie, but not with an apple galette. The recipe calls for four cups of apples, which is 4 medium apples. Stick with that.
If you like you can brush the edges of the galette with egg wash and sprinkle them with sparkling sugar. The egg wash browns the crust and the sugar makes it sparkle.
Find More Apple Recipes
Single Pie Crust
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour
- 1 Tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter cold
- 2 Tablespoons ice cold water
Instructions
- Use a sharp knife to cut the butter into small cubes.1/2 cup unsalted butter
- In a medium bowl combine the flour with the salt and sugar and stir to mix.1 cup flour, 1 Tablespoons sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Cut the butter into the flour mixture until it is combined and looks like breadcrumbs. Use a pastry cutter or a food processor. If using a food processor be careful not to over mix the dough.
- Add the ice water a little bit at a time until the dough is moistened and forms a ball.2 Tablespoons ice cold water
- Form the dough into a ball. You can use it right away or refrigerator it until you are ready to use it.
Notes
- If you are making a pie crust for a savory pie you can reduce the sugar to 1/2 Tablespoon.
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Nutrition Information
Nutrition facts are estimates.
Apple Galette
Ingredients
- 1 pie crust either store bought or homemade
- 4 medium apples
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3 Tablespoons flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoon apple pie spice *see notes for substitution
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 F.
- Peel, core and slice the apples. You can also chop them into peices instead of slices. You should end up with about 4 cups of apples.4 medium apples
- Put the apple slices in a medium bowl. Then add the sugar and flour and toss the slices to coat them.1/2 cup sugar, 3 Tablespoons flour
- Add the apple pie spice and toss to coat.1 1/2 teaspoon apple pie spice *see notes for substitution
- Roll out the pie crust into a circle about 12 inches around and 1/8 inch thick. A galette is supposed to be rustic, so you don’t need to make a perfect circle. A rectangular shape also works fine!1 pie crust
- Pile the apples in the center of the crust, leaving about 1 inch around the outside without fruit.
- Fold the edges of the crust up over the apples, crimping it slightly.
- Bake at 375 F for 45-50 minutes.
- Serve warm or at room temperature. Whipped cream, ice cream or caramel sauce make excellent toppings for the apple galette.
Notes
- Check out my recipe for homemade apple pie spice or substitute 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon allspice.
- Use my easy pie crust for a delicious homemade crust.
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition facts are estimates.
Love this apple galette. It tastes amazing and is so addictive!
I’m ALL ABOUT this apple galette because I love the fruit-to-crust ratio! #lovethecrust