A few weeks ago a friend and I went to hear Alexa Johnston speak about her new book, 'What's for Pudding' which is fresh in the bookshops now (I wrote about her other great baking books here.) She was a very interesting woman and so passionate about food, but one of my favourite things she talked about was the happiness factor of food, in particular puddings. She pointed out that technically, puddings are not nutritionally essential for our bodies, but the joy of sharing them together as friends or family and forming good memories around such foods is a pretty joyful business.
That made me think about food within my own family and what we like to eat. One of our favourite puddings is apple galette, maybe because it is quite a simple and quick pie to make (and I love rolling out pastry), or maybe because the ingredients always seem to be in the house. I made one for my grandmother today, (she is recovering from a long illness and loves comfort food a lot- I must get it from somewhere!) and so I thought I'd share the recipe here, too. It's also very good with apricots or peaches inside, if you're lucky enough to have them around and is equally good hot for pudding with cream or icecream as it is cut cold in slices for afternoon tea.
Apple galette
2-3 Granny Smith apples (or other fruit)
handful of blackcurrants (or other berries)
1-2 Tb flour
1-2 Tb raw sugar
75 grams butter, chopped into smallish pieces
1 heaped cup plain flour
1/2 cup cold water
First, make the pastry by cutting the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Then with a spoon, stir in the cold water a little at a time until you have a dough. Turn out onto a floured bench and knead lightly. Set aside to rest for a minute.
Peel and slice the apples thinly and place them in a bowl with the small amount of flour and sugar. Stir until coated. Roll the pastry out thinly so it will cover your baking tray. Sprinkle tray with flour then place the sheet of thin pastry on top. Pile the apples into the middle, add the berries if you like them then simply fold the excess pastry around the apples to form an open sort of pie. You can brush the pastry with milk if you like. Bake at 200 degrees celcius for about 15-20 minutes or until golden.
tiny happy 
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