Apple Galette

I wrote recently about my challenges as a baker. Case in point:  I made this dessert twice on Thanksgiving - not because I needed two of them, but because in the first attempt I underestimated the value of using parchment paper, as instructed. My blunder left me with too-few apples for a second attempt - thanks to my neighbor Maria for coming to my rescue with a couple of apples she had on hand!

The second time was a charm, though, and this was a quick, easy - but equally as tasty - alternative to a traditional apple pie. And it was beautiful! 

This was the first attempt - notice the lack of parchment paper. It stuck like glue to the pizza stone - and I was so sure the stone would make the bottom perfectly crisped, etc. It looked beautiful (and tasted delicious, I have to confess), but couldn't be removed from the stone with anything but a large spatula and a lot of scraping. Not good.

For a dessert, this was my kind of recipe - the woman who wrote it used terms like "about," "around," "some," and "sprinkle." I didn't measure carefully, but this is what I did...

Ingredients:

•  4 apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
• sprinkle of cinnamon
• 2 T brown sugar
• Peel of about a quarter lemon
• Juice of about a quarter orange
• Pinch of salt
• 2 T butter, small diced
• 1 egg, beaten with a splash of water
• 1 prepared pie crust - I used Pillsbury
• Sugar, for sprinkling
• Parchment paper!

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Toss apples in a large mixing bowl with next 5 ingredients, through salt.
3. Line a large rimmed cookie sheet with a piece of parchment paper.
4. Roll out pie crust to about 1/8" thickness.
5. Place pie crust on parchment lined cookie sheet.
6. Pile apples on top of crust.
7. Dot with butter.
8. Fold crust up over the apples - you will not cover all the apples. No need to be fancy, just fold the crust onto itself until all is pulled up.
9. Brush crust with egg mixture and sprinkle all over with sugar. Bake about 35 minutes or until nicely browned.

This is my second attempt right before it went into the oven...again, notice the parchment.