Plum Galette

For various reasons I have not had great luck with galette recipes in Dessert Person, though the overall concept seems relatively easy. That’s what made me determined to perfect the Plum Galette with Polenta and Pistachios—which I almost did.

With plums in almost every grocery store around me, it was pretty easy to find the ingredients for this recipe, though I used cornmeal instead of polenta since I already had it. I also made the Flaky All-Butter Pie Dough recipe ahead of time, which is my favorite of Claire’s foundational recipes. I have never used fresh plums before, but I found it extremely easy to half this fruit and take out the large pit. The color inside is absolutely gorgeous.

I started by chopping up the pistachios and toasting them for eight minutes (I did this the opposite way that Claire directed, but we survived). Once those cooled, I set aside a spoonful of pistachios and combined the rest with cornmeal, cornstarch, salt and demerara sugar. Then I rolled out the pie dough to about a 12-inch circle. I appreciated how this part didn’t have to be extremely perfect, allowing me to move along quickly.

After lining a baking sheet with parchment paper, I placed the pie dough round on it. I then sprinkled the cornmeal mixture around the pie dough, leaving a border all around. I placed the plums all around with the cut side facing up. Once it was all in place, I drizzled the plums with honey.

I brushed the sides of the dough with a beaten egg, then folded it all around the plums, creating small folds as needed. After brushing the top of the edges with more egg wash and sprinkling the whole thing with demerara sugar, I baked it for about an hour.

I was very pleased with how easy and smooth sailing this recipe was going until I took it out of the oven…and the sides were all black! It was as if the spots with sugar burned to a crisp. I was so bummed. Once the galette had cooled, I was able to take off a lot of those burned edges, but I’m not sure why this would have happened; the only thing I can think of is my oven had been on a while for other things I was baking. Perhaps it was just too hot, and then keeping the galette in the oven for the directed amount of time ended up being too much. Before cutting a slice, I sprinkled the rest of the pistachios and drizzled more honey.

Despite the oven mishap, this is an easy, delicious fall recipe. I don’t think this galette tastes incredibly different from other fruit tarts, but it is a great way to use a different fruit while tying in crunch from the pistachios with flaky pie dough. I really enjoyed the plums and will be more interested in using recipes with them in the future. If you need a dessert that is easy and stands out, this one is a great option!

Claire has not yet made this dessert on her YouTube Channel, but I will share it if she does!