Fall Calls for Apple Dessert Recipes

Apples, honey, sugar and cinnamon. The flavors of fall, and for some of us, the flavors of a new year. This galette couldn't be easier or prettier, and honestly, couldn't we all use a bit of the lift that comes with creating something that looks this good, and the optimism that comes with marking a new year or seasonal change? 

Even if you use a ready-made pastry dough (or frozen puff pastry) this comes together quickly enough to make as the perfect dessert for an average weeknight or a special celebration.

**Adapted from Jacques Pepin's Essential Pepin- a wonderful book from a fabulous cook!

Preparations:

Prepare the Dough:

1. Combine the flour with sugar, salt, and butter in a food processor and pulse for 5 seconds.
2. Sprinkle 3 T. of cold water over the flour mixture and process until pastry begins to come together, adding the additional 2 T. if needed. You should still see small pieces of butter in the dough.
3. Transfer to a lightly floured work surface, gather it together and form it into a flat disk. Wrap the disk in plastic wrap or wax paper and refrigerate until chilled.

Apple Prep:

1. Peel the apples, then halve and core them, and slice them crosswise around 1/4" thick.
2. Roughly chop the smaller slices and end pieces, mix them with the sugar, cinnamon, and mix well. You should have about half the apples chopped- this will be the base of our  galette.

Prepare the Galette:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°.
2. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the pastry to a circle just larger than your tart pan or pie plate. If you'd prefer, you can roll out a freeform rectangle, keeping the the dough about 1/4" thick.
3. With a floured rolling pin, gently roll the dough around the pin, pick it up, position then unroll it gently into the tart or pie pan. Push the pastry down into the pan, press the dough against the sides, and trim the excess dough from the top edges.
4. If you're going freeform, roll the dough out and transfer to a baking sheet.
5. Spread the chopped apples, sugar and cinnamon over the bottom of the pastry pan, or across the dough on the baking sheet to within about an inch of the edge.
6. Drizzle the apples with the honey.
7. Add the pretty pieces of the apple slices in a pretty pattern, in slightly overlapping rows. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar evenly over the apples and dot with the pieces of butter. For freeform, fold the edges up and over the edges of the apples and pinch it to form a border.
8. Bake in the center of the oven until pastry is nicely browned and all of the apples are tender.
9. Transfer to a rack to let cool, serve it warm or at room temperature.