Galette des Rois
Har har har.
January 6th--the day that commemorates the visit of the Magi's visit to the Christ Child for some traditions of Western Christianity, and marking the end of the Christmas Season. In doing a little bit of research, I learned that in Eastern Orthodox traditions, Epiphany celebrates the baptism of Jesus.
Both super important events.
But this is a French Galette des Rois, or King's Cake, so we'll go with the visit of the Magi. I am a Baptist, who are not really very liturgical at all, so these traditions are all very interesting and new to me.
King Arthur Flour had a recipe for this classic French pastry, and I *happened* to have all the ingredients on hand after my flurry of Christmas baking.
It features a buttery, flaky pastry and an almond frangipane filling--basically an egg-sugar-butter-almond paste concoction. I had made some almond paste left over from some Christmas marzipan experiments, so score! The almond paste was easy to make, and WAAAYYY less expensive than the stuff you buy in a tube from the store.
The crust was a rough puff pastry with added sour cream for an extra tang, and took almost no time to make. I've made full puff pastry with various degrees of success. This was super easy, though! I love things that look impressive and you don't have to be a baking rocket scientist to pull off!
It was tasty! I lived several years in North Africa, and it reminded me of some of the pastries there--minus the orange blossom water. I think I would have enjoyed it more if there had been another flavor in there besides almond--like pears, or cherries or something--but who am I to mess with a cake that has been around since the Roman Empire?
The cake is traditionally cut into as many pieces as eaters present--plus 1 slice to share with a poor person. Like a New Orleans King Cake, there is also a little token placed in the cake is supposed to be lucky for the person who gets that slice.
Apparently, it was originally a bean, but is now any number of collectible porcelain trinkets.
As with most of my cakes, I took this one over to the Baptist Student Union for the staff and students to eat. I didn't put any trinkets in my Galette de Rois, because I didn't want the lucky person to break their tooth and start out 2020 that way. But it's a fun idea.
Also, in France, these galettes are often sold with a paper crown that a person gets to wear and be king for the day. I thought about running down the street to Burger King and asking for a crown...but I didn't.
So try this Galette des Rois! It's a fun way to say goodbye to the Christmas Season and "hello" to what the new year may hold.
Or "Bonjour" to the new year, as it were ;)
I felt like a king eating it. It was very tasty.
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