Baking on Wednesday - galette des rois

On Monday night, we celebrated Epiphany with dinner at home. The meal was as basic as it gets: roast chicken, broccoli and wild rice. Simple. But the star was the galette des rois, or king cake, that I made for dessert. It's a puff pastry dessert filled with almond paste. (Whir up unsalted almonds, butter and sugar in the food processor and you get the idea). I posted some photos on a previous blog post here.

My recipe came from the New York Times. They also provided the following information about the tradition:

"The galette des rois, celebrating Epiphany, the day the Three Kings (les rois) visited the infant Jesus, is baked throughout January in France. Composed of two circles of puff pastry sandwiching a frangipani filling, each comes with a crown and always has a trinket, called a fève, or bean, baked into it. It’s an invitation to gather, as much party game as pastry – if your slice has the fève, you get the crown and the right to be king or queen for the day."

Sadly, mine didn't puff as much as I would have expected. I did use storebought puff pastry and I don't think I let it thaw enough and my temp was somehow off. But the flavor was spot on! This recipe is a keeper. Give it a try!

Laura