This Apple Crumble Galette is about as close as to making a pie as I’m ever going to come.
And, I’m TOTALLY okay with that.
My husband asks me to make apple crumble every autumn. We love to go apple picking, and we usually end up with more apples than we know what to do with. But, I always know to set aside some apples to make my All Day Apple Butter and an apple crumble.
This year, I think a new fall tradition has been born with this Apple Crumble Galette.
Even though I completely suck at making pies, I was ready to tackle Livvy’s Blue Ribbon Apple Pie from The City Baker’s Guide to Counry Living. The recipe is included in the back of the book, and author Louise Miller provides such detailed instructions that I felt confident that, I, too — Pie Destroyer Extraordinaire — could successfully produce an apple pie for my book-inspired recipe.
However, I hit a snag: I couldn’t find the pie recipe anywhere online. Since I don’t approve of copyright infringement, I had to come up with the next best thing to an apple pie.
And I did.
Say hello to Apple Crumble Galette, the fall dessert you didn’t know you needed.
I think Apple Crumble Galette is my new favorite fall dessert, and not just because it’s way easier to make than apple pie. I get to enjoy my beloved apple crumble, with its soft, glazed apples and crunchy, sugary, crumbly topping, with the added bonus of tender, flaky pie crust. The entire galette is fragrant with warm cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, but the bright, fresh taste of autumn apples still shines through.
This was my first time making a galette, and, lemme tell ya – it was astoundingly easy. WAY easier than any time I’ve tried to make a pie.
You just need one piece of a pastry since the galette is covered in crumble topping. And, you don’t have to worry about transferring delicate pastry into a pie pan because, amazingly, the crust becomes the pie pan!
*mind blown*
To make life easier on myself, I used pre-made pie dough (don’t hate me!), and all I had to do was roll it out and gently fold the edges around the filling. Just think of encasing the fruit in a giant, doughy hug. Plus, it’s okay if the edges aren’t perfect, since the more “rustic” this galette looks, the better.
Basically, you can’t mess this dessert up.
Apple Crumble Galette contains several nods to Livvy’s apple pie technique. I followed some of her advice when it came to making the fruity filling, like sautéing the apple slices in butter and brushing the interior of the pastry crust with egg white before piling in the sticky, juicy apples. The butter really enhances the slightly caramel flavor of the brown sugar over the apples, and the egg white keeps the dough from soaking up too much juice from the sauteed fruit.
The crumble topping is the easiest part of the Apple Crumble Galette. You just mash some oats, flour, spices, and brown sugar with softened butter, then sprinkle it over the apples sitting in the pastry.
You can use as little or as much of the topping as you like, but I doused my galette with it since I know my husband would be disappointed if I went light on the crumble.
Apple Crumble Galette is wonderfully rustic, yet elegant at the same time, which means it’s the perfect treat to set on your Thanksgiving table this year. Or, y’know, to plop on a plate in front of you in the middle of winter when you get a hankering for apple pie without a lot of hard work.
Serve the galette when it’s fresh from the oven, with a generous scoop of ice cream or some whipped cream.
And, if you wanted to drizzle a little caramel sauce over it, let’s just say you wouldn’t be the first!
Apple Crumble Galette
Ingredients
Filling and Galette Ingredients
- 4-6 medium apples, peeled, cored, and sliced thin
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
- 1/2 tsp cornstarch
- 5 tbsp light brown sugar
- 5 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 pre-made pie crust, either store bought or homemade
- 1 egg, with the white and yolk separated
- sanding sugar or turbinado sugar, for sprinkling
Crumble Ingredients
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup old-fashioned oats
- 2 tbsp light brown sugar
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tbsp cold, unsalted butter, cut into cubes
Instructions
PREP INSTRUCTIONS FOR CRUMBLE
- Make sure your pie crust is cold but not frozen, and is malleable enough to be rolled out.
- Whisk together the crumble ingredients from flour to cinnamon, then use a fork or pastry blender to cut the cold butter into the mixture, until it resembles coarse crumbs. Place in fridge until ready to sprinkle over the galette.
PREP INSTRUCTIONS FOR FILLING
- Take the egg and separate the egg white out into a small bowl, lightly whisk with a fork, then set aside.
- Place the remaining egg yolk in another small bowl, add a bit of tap water, lightly whisk with a fork, then set aside.
- Squeeze the juice of a 1/2 lemon into a small bowl, then whisk in the cornstarch until combined. Set aside.
- Peel, core, and slice your apples into thin pieces, then place them into a large bowl.
- Melt 1 tbsp unsalted butter in a large skillet. Add apple slices and sauté for 8-10 minutes over medium heat, stirring often, until lightly softened.
- Remove the skillet from the heat and add the lemon juice/cornstarch mixture, 5 tbsp brown sugar, 5 tbsp granulated sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, and 1/8 tsp ground cloves. Stir to combine until apples are thoroughly coated with the spices, sugar, and cornstarch mixture. Set aside.
BAKING INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE GALETTE
- Preheat the oven to 375F.
- Place a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Set aside.
- Roll out your pie down on a lightly floured surface. The dough should be roughly 1/4 inch thick and formed into a roughly circular shape, but it doesn't have to be perfect. You're aiming for "rustic" here!
- Move your dough onto the parchment-lined baking sheet, then gently brush the dough with egg white wash, edge to edge. Discard remaining egg white.
- Use a slotted spoon the remove the apples from the skillet (leave the juice behind) and place the apples onto the center of the dough, spreading them out a bit over the crust but leaving a 1.5-2 inch border on all sides.
- Gently fold the crust border up onto the fruit, so that the apples are encased within a frame of dough.
- Brush the exposed crust lightly with egg yolk wash, then sprinkle with sanding or turbinado sugar.
- Remove the crumble from the fridge and sprinkle it over the apple filling. (Note: you may not need to use all the crumble.)
- Place galette into the oven on the baking sheet. Bake at 375F for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350F and bake for another 15 minutes, until the crust and crumble topping are a golden brown.
- Remove baking sheet from oven and let cool about 20 minutes before slicing. Serve with a scoop of ice cream or whipped cream.
Wow, this looks wonderfully autumnal (and I bet it smells amazingly spicy too)! There’s nothing better than piping hot apple and blackberry crumble at this time of year, especially if the blackberry juice is still bubbling through the cracks in the crumble 😋
Thanks, Nicola! Blackberry crumble sounds like a DELICIOUS idea! I actually think an apple AND blackberry crumble could be pretty darn tasty. 😀
Yep, especially if you’ve just picked fresh blackberries! Free food always tastes the best 😁
This sounds so incredibly delicious!! I want it right now!!!
This is embarrassing to admit but how do you core an apple? With a spoon? I’m sure there’s a contraption that does it but what if I just cut around it? 🤔
LOL, I’m sure there’s some fancy way, but I usually just cut around the center of an apple. Like, cut the apple in half lengthwise, slightly off center so you’re not slicing through the core, but to the right or left side of it. Then I place it cut side down and proceed to cut off chunks all around the thin strip of stem-to-core-to-apple end. You could probably cut the apple in half and use a spoon to hollow out the core, but I find my way to be a little quicker. It’s pretty easy once you get the hang of it!
Your way sounds perfect to me! I really need to make this! Yum!
It’s the only way to go. Full-on pies are WAY too much work for me. 😉