Maple & Strawberry Galette

Fresh summer berries shine in this rustic strawberry galette! It comes together in no time when you use store-bought puff pastry.

Is it strawberry season already?! I feel like I blinked and suddenly found myself right in the middle of summer.

I'm not complaining, but I think I need to start taking a little bit of time to enjoy my summer, and all of the wonderful things that come with it. Like strawberries, and fireworks, and sunny days.

It's been really difficult to take time to do things for myself lately. I'm working 6-7 days a week, and all hours of the day, which is pretty normal when you're a freelancer or self-employed. But it's starting to take a toll on me. I don't think I've had an entire day to myself since the beginning of April!

I really shouldn't complain though - I'm finally getting enough work to bring in an actual income. Not a huge one, but at least now I can pay my credit card bills and bank loans off slowly.

Meanwhile, I'm going to enjoy the odd day (or at least half-day) off when I get them. Tomorrow is Canada Day, which means that most of the people who I work with will be off doing fun things.

I'm planning on sleeping in, and eating dessert in front of the television. No fireworks for me this year... but that's ok, I'm willing to miss them for a night of Netflix and slices of strawberry galette!

What's a galette anyhow? According to my food encyclopedia, it's "a round, rather flat cake made of flaky-pastry dough, yeast dough or sometimes unleavened dough."

I really don't see this as a cake... it's more like a thing pie of sorts... It's closer to a turnover than a cake.

I love this dessert because it's considered a "rustic" dish, which basically means it can be misshapen and weird, and that's ok! 

A crumpled and uneven galette can be seen as cute or charming! That works for me since my pastry shaping skills are seriously lacking.

I opted to make my galette with store-bought puff pastry, because really who has time to make pastry from scratch?? I'd love to attempt that one day, but for the sake of consistent results and convenience, I like to use something ready made.

The hardest thing to prep for this recipe isn't really that hard at all. Hulling the strawberries takes a bit of time, but it's worth doing before you start slicing your berries.

Hulling removes the stem of the berry without losing too much of the fruit. If you're not sure how to do it, check out this step-by-step guide on how to hull strawberries from The Spruce Eats.

I initially tried making this galette the classic way - with just raw strawberries, cornstarch and sugar.

Honestly, I didn't love it. I found that the galette got soggy and just wasn't as tasty as it could be.

My mom makes a quick strawberry jam/reduction/something with any strawberries that are overripe, and we like to eat that over ice cream. So I thought it would be nice to make a jammy mixture for the bottom of the galette, and then top it with fresh strawberries and coarse sugar.

The results were so much better! The galette was sweet, a bit sticky and full of strawberry flavour. And it didn't get soggy!

This strawberry galette is lovely with a dollop of whipped cream, or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Or you could eat it with thick Greek vanilla yogurt and tell yourself it's breakfast.

What the heck, it's my first day off in weeks! I'm going to live a little 😉

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