Description
A twist on the classic French Galette des Rois! We’re making a homemade quick puff pastry and make mini cookie cakes!
Ingredients
Scale
For the Pastry:
- 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 12 ounces (3 sticks) high-fat unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
- 1 cup cold water
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
For the Pistachio Rose Filling:
- 1 1/4 cup shelled roasted and salted pistachios
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon fresh grated lemon zest
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg white, yolk reserved
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon rose water
- 1 large egg (to combine with the reserved yolk for egg wash)
Instructions
- To make the pastry, in a large bowl whisk together the two flours, salt, and sugar. Add the cold butter all at once to the flour mixture and use your fingers to fluff and combine, coating all the butter.
- Use your fingers to break the butter down into the flour. Press the butter chunks between your thumb and index fingers into rough sheets of butter.
- Break all of the butter pieces down, creating pea size chunks of butter along with flattened sheets of butter. This usually takes me about 5 to 7 minutes. Work quickly as to not heat the butter with your hands too much.
- Make a well in the center of the flour and butter mixture. Stir together cold water and vinegar. Add 3/4 of the liquid to the the flour. Mix the flour mixture towards the center, tossing together the wet and dry ingredients. Add more of the water mixture as necessary to create a moist but still fairly dry dough. Dump the dough out onto the counter and start to gently knead together into a thick rectangle. Add more water as necessary and you’ll know you have enough liquid when there are no dry patches remaining.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
- Once the dough is well chilled, remove it from the refrigerator and place on a well floured counter. Roll the dough into a 1/2-inch thick rectangle roughly 6×16-inches wide and along.
- Position the rectangle long way from where you stand extending out long in front of you. Fold the bottom third of the dough up towards the center. Fold the top third of the dough down over the first fold. This is a letter fold we’ll repeat.
- Rotate the dough a quarter turn clockside so the ends of the folds are facing towards you and away from you. Roll the dough out long into a 1/2-inch thick rectangle again so that it extends long out in front of you. Fold into the letter fold once again. Rotate and roll and fold once again.
- Complete 4 roll and fold laminations. You may need to return the dough to the refrigerator to rechill the butter in the middle of working. Cold butter is best.
- After the 4th fold, divide the dough in two. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
- While the pastry rests, make the pistachio filling.
- In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment pulse the shelled pistachios, sugar, flour, salt, zest, and splash of rose water. Blend until the the nuts are relatively fine but not completely smooth. Add the egg and white and pulse to combine. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl.
- With the mixer running on low, add the softened butter, a tablespoon at a time. The butter will emulsify as it’s added to the nut mixture, thicken and become really luscious. Scrape the filling into a container and store in the refrigerator overnight or until ready to fill the cookies.
- When ready to assemble the cookies, remove one half of the dough from the fridge, keeping the other chilled. Roll the other half into a 1/4-inch thickness on a well floured surface.
- Use a 2-inch round biscuit cutter to cut as many circles as possible from this half of dough. Brush half of the circles lightly with egg wash. Place one tablespoonful of pistachio filling into the center of each egg washed circle.
- Top each filled circle with another pastry round. Use a fork to crimp the edges, sealing.
- Repeat with the other half of dough. Rolling, cutting out circles, filling, and topping. Place each pastry on a parchment lined baking sheet about 2-inches apart.
- (It is possible to reroll the pastry scraps, so hold on to them and make as many cookies as you’d like!)
- Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Before baking, lightly brush each round with egg wash and use a small shark knife to create one vent hole (reaching down to the filling layer) and a few decorative slashes across the top to help the pastry grow in the oven.
- Chill for 20 minutes before baking. Bake for 16-18 minutes until deeply golden brown and puffed. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the rack for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool to room temperature.
- Cakes are best wrapped at room temperature for up to 4 days. Reheat lightly in the oven before serving to freshen the pastry.