Last Saturday, we celebrated Epiphany which is celebrated on January 6, 12 days after Christmas in the Gregorian day.

Epiphany is commonly known as Three Kings’ Day or the Feast of the Epiphany. It means “manifestation” or “showing forth”. It is also called Theophany (“manifestation of God”), especially by Eastern Christians. Epiphany refers not only to the day itself but to the church season that follows it – a season that has a varied length because it ends when Lent begins, and this depends on the date of Easter.
https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/common/epiphany

In Belgium, as well as in France, we celebrate Epiphany in an edible way. On this day, we serve Galette des Rois at tea-time in the afternoon. It's a puff pastry filled with almond cream where there'a baby figurine hidden inside and the one who gets the figurine in their slice will be crowned as King or Queen of The Feast.

The galette should be divided equally and the youngest person in the family will designate each slice of the galette to somebody. The fun thing is that the youngest person has to stay under the table so he/she couldn't have a peek into the figurine inside the galette. In my partner's family, the youngest member of the family is his little brother who is 19 year-old. So he didn't want to stay under the table, instead he closed his eyes and turned around from everyone. This year, I was crowned as the queen since i got the slice with the figurine in it :-)

This year, I decided to make this galette from scratch. The hardest part was making the puff pastry. It really took a long time to make it. Because this was my first time, I opted for easy recipe. I used the recipe from the great French pastry chef, Cyril Lignac, who is also my favorite chef :-) There's a recipe for making puff pastry in his cookbook. His recipe is quite simple compared to the other chef. It only takes 4 hours for making the puff pastry then it needs to rest overnight while the other needs 4 days to make puff pastry only. Crazy huh?

My first galette from scratch wasn't perfect. There's a crack in the center of the galette. It's my fault because I didn't follow the baking temperature and baking time stated in the cookbook. Then I made the second galette and I followed exactly the instruction, it turned out perfect, as you may see in the first and second pictures. I am super happy and I am proud that I could make puff pastry by myself :-)

In general, there are two types of Galette des Rois: the one with almond cream filling and the other one filled with frangipane which is the mix of almond cream and pastry cream. Although you may be creative as well for the filling, those two fillings are the classic ones. I personally love the almond cream filling, it's lighter for me. Below I am sharing with you how to make Galette des Rois with almond cream filling but sorry I couldn't share with you the recipe of the puff pastry since I got it from the book.

Galette des Rois with Almond Cream Filling

Ingredients

• 2 store-bought puff pastries
• 100 gr unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
• 100 gr caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 100 gr almond flour
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• a figurine
• 1 beaten egg for egg wash
• maple syrup for the glaze

Directions

• Roll out the puff pastry and cut into 24 cm round. Set aside.
• For the filling: using whisk or hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time then fold in the almond flour and add the almond extract. Transfer the filling into a piping bag and set aside.
• Line a baking paper or silicone baking may and place one puff pastry on it. Brush the outer side with water. Pipe the filling over the center of the dough, leaving 2 cm exposed border and place the figurine in the outer side of the filling.
• Stack the other puff pastry on top of it and press down the edges to seal the galette and make an incision around the edges with the back of your knife.
• Brush with egg wash and leave it in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
• After 30 minutes, preheat oven to 180°C. Take out the galette from the fridge, apply the second egg wash, and score it. Poke some holes around the galette avoiding the center to release the steam while baking. Bake for 45 minutes.
• Brush with maple syrup.

You dont have to wait for next year if you want to try it. For me, this galette is perfect for tea time. It's so good and light. I'm planning to make it again this year. I want to learn more about puff pastry. I really have to improve my baking skill this year and I'm up for that!

Thank you for reading. Hope you have a nice day :-)

Cheers,

All content and images are mine and original. Pictures were taken with Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ1000.