Strawberry Rhubarb (& Chocolate!) Galette

Hello friends and happy Monday!  So I’m trying something new on Bakery Bingo to help with consistency – from here on out at least for the time being, all new posts will be ready and published by Monday morning! 

As you may have seen, I’m not able to publish posts every day so instead of sporadically posting like I have in the past, I’ll now be posting weekly on Mondays. Hopefully that will work out well. Plus it will be a great start to your Monday, right?! 🙂

Now onto this week’s post!

I love strawberries. They are hands-down one of my favorite things about summer.

One day last summer, Brice and I stopped at a Farmer’s Market and I picked up a pint of delicious red strawberries.  We got back in the car and started heading home. About five or six minutes into the drive he looked over and asked for a strawberry.  I looked at him with guilty eyes, “Uh, I already ate them all…” “You ate them all? There was a full pint?!”

I showed him the empty container with only a few stems as remnants as proof that yes, I ate an entire pint of strawberries in under five minutes. But really strawberries, in particular Oregon summer strawberries, are just that good! I can’t help myself!

Perhaps that will be a food eating contest someday; I’d do well at that one!

This past weekend however, when cruising through the Farmer’s Market, I actually picked up several pints and had the willpower not to eat them all right away. I was on a mission to make a Strawberry Rhubarb Galette for a girls’ night dessert the next day.  Ok, truthfully I planned ahead – I only needed two pints for the recipe but bought three so I could chow on one without ruining my recipe.

This is a wonderfully simple dessert that is beautiful and rustic and tastes delicious.  The berries and rhubarb are tart yet sweet. The crust is buttery and flaky.  Served with homemade fresh lemon whipped cream, it is the perfect summertime dessert.

After making the initial galette, I had some leftover filling and pie dough. So what does any reasonable person do with that?  You make another mini dessert, but this time you had CHOCOLATE.  Duh. 🙂

I can’t decide which one I liked more. The chocolate was much richer and fuller in flavor.  Delicious as anything with chocolate is, the fruit-only galette is much lighter and I would say is better for a brunch or late afternoon dessert. 

Don’t like rhubarb?  Or have a ton of amazing looking blackberries?  Or is it fall and you want to use stone fruit like peaches?  One of the best parts of this recipe is you can substitute in or out whatever you like. So go ahead and make it your own!

Strawberry Rhubarb (& Chocolate!) Galette

Recipe adapted from The Grand Central Baking Book and their baking class I took a few months back

Ingredients:

• 1 disc Pie Crust (My favorite recipe is below. Pie crust is surprisingly easy to make and much better than store bought. However if you are feeling intimidated or short on time, store-bought is a-okay. If you are in the Pacific NW, I recommend picking up Grand Central’s U-Bake Pie Dough.)
• 5-6 rhubarb stalks, cut into 1” pieces
• 1-2 pints (2C) fresh strawberries, hulled and halved (my preference of course is Oregon Strawberries, since they are the best, though I might be little biased.)
• 1/3C granulated sugar
• 2T cornstarch
• 1T fresh lemon juice
• 1 egg, lightly whipped
• 1T Raw turbinado sugar for sprinkling on top

For the pie crust:

• 2 1/4C all-purpose flour
• 2t sugar
• 1t coarse salt
• 1C (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/4C ice water

For the optional chocolate addition:

• 3oz dark chocolate
• 1/4C heavy whipping cream

For the optional lemon whipped cream:

• 3/4C heavy whipping cream
• 2T powdered sugar
• Lemon zest from one lemon
• 1/2t fresh lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare the pie crust:

Using a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, and salt.  Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs, about 10 seconds. With the machine running, add the ice water through the feed tube in a slow and steady stream, a small portion at a time until the dough just comes together.  The dough should not be wet or sticky.  If the dough is too dry and does not hold together, add a bit more water.  Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface.  Divide in two and wrap each half in plastic wrap, shaping them into flattened discs. 

Chill the pie crust in the refridgerator until ready to bake.

Prepare the filling:

Combine the strawberries, rhubarb and sugar into a large bowl and mix lightly. Combine the cornstarch and lemon juice in a small bowl to make a cornstarch slurry. It will look thick and dry.

Add the cornstarch slurry to the fruit and stir gently until evenly coated.

Prepare the (optional) chocolate ganache:

Chop the chocolate and place in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a boil over medium heat (only a few minutes). Pour the cream on top of the chocolate and let sit for four-five minutes while melting the chocolate. Whisk until smooth. Cool to room temperature while you prepare the rest of the galette. When ready to bake, spread evenly over the prepared pie dough, leaving about 2” of pie dough around the edge as a border.

Form and bake the galette:

Roll out the dough to form a 14” circle. Place on a piece of parchment paper on top of a baking sheet. (Doing this step first is mighty helpful so then you don’t have to struggle moving your filled galette to the pan later.)

Evenly spread the fruit filling on the top of the pie crust, leaving a 2” border of pie dough. Fold the border over the filling, overlapping the corners and gently pressing the dough to adhere the folds.

Brush the dough with the lightly beaten egg. No need to use the full egg; use just enough to coat the dough folds.  Sprinkle with raw sugar.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling. Cool on a wire rack.

Serve warm or at room temperature with homemade whipped cream.

Homemade Lemon Whipped Cream:

Place whipping cream in a stand mixer and mix on medium-high until it forms soft peaks.

Add powdered sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest. Mix on medium-high until combined. Be careful not to overmix.

Taste and add more lemon or powdered sugar as desired.

Remember you can always add more, but can never take away. So start with less sugar and add if you would like it to be sweeter.