Yule Apple Gallette

Yuletime is when I get really excited about apples. Though they are harvested in the fall they can keep much longer since they store well in cool cellars without refrigeration throughout the winter. So Yule apples have always been a traditional holiday food and beverage at this time of year. One winter tradition called Wassailing, involves not only appreciating apples through the drinking of a traditional mulled cider drink called Wassail, but also singing to the apple trees and giving offerings so they will produce plentifully in the following year. There are a number of traditional wassail songs that are fun to sing and I also like to include the Crow Woman song Long Long Night.

One of my favorite foods to make with apples is a gallette. It is basically a lazy Crow Woman pie and I make it with a whole wheat and butter crust. Pie crusts are crazy easy to make, especially if made in a food processor, and this pie gets even easier when you just lay the rolled out crust on a cookie sheet, throw your pie filling in and then fold over the edges to keep the filling from falling out. I always make 2 gallettes since my pie crust recipe makes enough for a top and bottom of a traditional pie. But you could also freeze one raw crust ball to make another at a later time!

Whole Wheat Pie Crust (makes enough for 2 gallettes):

1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) of butter
1/4 cup Ice water (strain out the ice)

In your food processor combine the whole wheat flour and salt and pulse to combine. Or mix in a bowl.
Cube the butter and add it to the food processor or bowl. Pulse 3-5 times or cut the butter into the flour with 2 knives or a pastry cutter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Pour in the ice water and pulse or mix gently until there are tiny clumps of dough and dough sticks together when pinched.
Pour it out into a bowl and use your hands to shape the dough into 2 balls, packing it together firmly. Place in a covered container and refrigerate the dough for at least one hour.
After the dough has chilled, roll it out until it reaches around 10 inches in diameter. Let dough rest five minutes (this helps the gluten to relax).

Apple Filling (per gallette)

3 apples cored and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 pinch nutmeg
1 tablespoon flour or other thickener like corn starch, arrowroot powder, almond flour
optional additional ingredients: a handful of raisins, blueberries, some fresh grated ginger, get creative!

Mix apples and other ingredients in a bowl.
Place rolled out pie crust onto a cookie sheet. If you are making 2 gallettes at a time place your first crust on one side of the cookie sheet so that there is room for assembling another once you have assembled the first. The crust can hang over the pan since it will get folded over.
Dump the apple mixture onto the middle of your crust and then fold the edges of your crust over the apples, pinching together the folds to hold the contents securely.
For a little more fancy you can beat an egg and then paint the crust with it so it will be more shiny. Plus you can then stick things like slivered almonds or other embellishments onto your crust.
Bake at 400 for 45 minutes.

This dish is a hit at those holiday potlucks. If you want to use it for the “cakes” for your Winter Solstice ritual, be sure to cut it into maneagable bit-sized pieces and have napkins ready. There’s nothing like home-made baked goods to make a Yule ritual special. This gallette looks like the disc of the sun. May it help you through the long, long night of winter solstice and give you hope for the coming growth of the sun’s light.

It’s a long, long night
It’s a long, long night
We journey through the darkness,
it brings us insight in the long, long night.
music & lyrics © Alane Susan Brown (ASCAP) 2017, on the Crow Women album Seasons

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