We’re talking personal pies. Flat little freeform pies that are full of charm. They’re casual and fancy at the same time. And you can make them with all kinds of fillings. But today we are all about apples bathed in butterscotch. I’m not complaining.
The recipe for these is from my friends, Todd and Diane’s new cookbook, Bountiful. The recipes inside are inspired by the things they grow in their garden. It’s an absolutely beautiful book, but that’s a given with these two. They are amazing photographers and videographers. You may remember that I worked with them last year on a fun little holiday video. But, If you aren’t familiar, check out the White on Rice Couple Blog for more of their beautiful recipes.
Okay … Galettes! Let’s go.
Butterscotch sauce ingredients: sugars, butter, heavy cream, vanilla, scotch and salt. P.S. Yay for heavy cream and brown sugar.
Because it all comes together to make glorious butterscotch sauce.
And you can kick it up a notch with a little scotch. Like my airline size bottle? If I bought anything bigger, it would most likely just go to waste.
Filling ingredients: Apples, apples, apples and a little sugar, flour and lemon juice.
Peel, core and slice those babies so they are nice and thin.
Then we’re on to the pie crust.
Prepare the dough and divide into four small discs.
Roll it out into an 8 inch circle. Use a cake pan pressed in the dough as a guide if you want a more perfects. Then just cut off the excess.
Fill the center with apples and spoon on the sauce.
Then just fold the edges, creasing as you go and bake until golden brown.
And dress them up a little bit if you want, too. I used these cute little leaf pie crust cutters I found at Williams-Sonoma.
Butterscotch-Apple Mini Galettes
Servings: 4 mini galettes
Ingredients
Butterscotch
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1-2 tablespoons Scotch or Whiskey
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Filling
- 1 1/2 pounds apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Crust
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 3 tablespoons ice water
- heavy cream for brushing on crusts
Instructions
For the butterscotch:
- In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Before butter is completely melted, stir in both the sugars. Gently cook stirring occasionally for about five minutes, until the sugars transform from grainy to smooth.
- Add the cream and whisk until completely combined. Increase the heat to medium and cook for 8 more minutes, whisking occasionally. Let cool for 10 minutes. Then stir in vanilla, salt and whiskey. Set aside.
For the filling:
- In a bowl, combine the sugar, flour and lemon juice. Add the sliced apples and toss together until mixed evenly. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
For the crust:
- In a medium bowl, use your fingertips to pinch together the flour, butter, salt and sugar until the mixture is crumbly. Make sure any large pieces of butter are flattened or broken apart.
- In a small bowl, whisk egg yolks with ice water until combined. Add yolks to the flour mixture and incorporate until the flour binds together and forms a rough ball, kneading if necessary.
- Divide dough into four equal pieces, flatten into disks and place in the freezer for 5-10 minutes to firm up.
- Roll out dough into an 8-inch circle on a lightly floured work surface. Use a cake pan as a guide to cut a more perfect circle. Then transfer disk to one of the prepared pans. Pile apples in center of disk about 5 inches and wide and three layers deep in apples. Pour a couple of spoonfuls of butterscotch sauce over apples and spread evenly. Then fold dough up and over apples, creasing every inch or so. Repeat with three remaining dough disks. Brush crusts with a little heavy cream.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Rotate sheet pans and reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking for 15-20 more minutes or until crusts are golden brown. Note: I forgot and baked them at 350 the whole time and they were fine that way, too.
Source: © 2013 Bountiful by Todd Porter and Diane Cu
Now normally I would lather something like this up with ice cream because you know fruit isn’t my first choice in a dessert, but after the first bite – oh my…so good – it didn’t need anything else.
Hope you enjoy and don’t forget to check out Bountiful. It’s beautiful.
