You’ll savor this Israel-inspired galette just about anywhere

In the wee hours of the morning, sleepless from jet lag on my first night in Israel, I decided to make something festive to celebrate my cousin Yareen’s 12th birthday.

I fumbled off the couch at 1 a.m. with an inexplicable need to feel flour and butter crumbling between my fingers. A galette. Simple and beautiful, I could make this from scratch and use any kind of fruit for the filling.

I decided to use a combination of cubed gala apples and tart plums, but any kind of stone fruit like peaches, nectarines or even pitted cherries would do.

Some simple galette tips include tasting the fruit for sweetness before preparing the galette as well as using a layer of crumbled cookies or bread crumbs to soak up all of the juices from the fruit. This helps keep the bottom of the galette from caving.

Finding my tart ingredients, I prepared the dough in 10 minutes and formed it into a disk, refrigerating it for two days.  When my cousin and her little sister showed up in this afternoon, I gave them some tasks to help out —slicing fruit, making egg wash, assembling the tart and brushing and garnishing it with sugar before baking.

Though my initial hope was to make it all for her from start to finish, having the birthday girl and her sister there to partake in the celebration made it all the sweeter.

Fruit galette

Serves 6

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup almond flour

1 ½ tsp. sugar

2 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, cubed and ice cold

3/4 tsp. salt

½-3/4 cup ice cold water

¼ cup dry bread crumbs

6 pcs of fruit, sliced such as apples, plums, peaches, nectarines or a combination 

1 heaping tbsp. flour

3 tbsp. sugar, plus additional if needed

I lemon, zested plus 1 tbsp. juice

2 egg yolks

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Whisk well. Add the butter. Using your fingers, begin to press the dry ingredients and butter together, breaking it up until the dough appears crumbly with pea-size bits of homogenized flour and butter.  Make sure the butter is ice cold when using and work swiftly and in a cool space. Some people like to wear gloves to ensure the heat from your body temperature doesn’t melt the butter.