Brown Butter Apple Galette With Your Kids

The way I see it, there are two kinds of pie in this world: Perfect pie and imperfect pie. To make a perfect pie, you have to get all the steps and proportions and assembly just so. But if you make a galette, you can relax. This free-form pie is supposed to be rustic and homey — not bake-shop perfect. And don’t worry, it tastes just as good (if not better). As I took my first bite of fresh apple galette, my husband called out with a “How is it?” I was in buttery-dough, caramel-topped-apple heaven. But I managed to get one word out. “Awesome.” “Really? Awesome?” “Mmm-hmm. Nothing short of awesome.” A brown-butter apple galette would make a decadent dessert for any nice milchig occasion. But if I was a kid home from school for Presidents Day Weekend, I’d think that was occasion enough. There’s nothing more American than apple pie, and nothing better to bake with kids than a dish that isn’t supposed to look perfect. Put them together and you get a brown-butter apple galette with caramel glaze. Sounds fancy, but it isn’t hard at all. I'll show you. Make the dough in your food processor, then roll it out and brush a tablespoon of brown butter over the surface. (To brown your butter, just let melted butter sit over the heat a bit longer than needed. Keep an eye on it to make sure you don’t end up with black butter!) Then start laying out your apple slices in a spoke pattern. See? Already so pretty. Now brown a bit more butter and brush it over the apples before folding the crust in towards the center. Moisten the folds of dough by brushing on a bit of whole milk. Sprinkle the whole thing with a little sugar (vanilla or light brown are both great), and stick it in the oven. Lookin’ good! As it cools, make a quick caramel glaze and then drizzle your little heart out. There you go. The only thing that’s missing right now is… Vanilla ice cream. Clearly. Muuuuch better. Click for the full Galette Recipe.