TWD- Summer Fruit Galette

Lately, it seems I have been baking with fruit more than I ever have before. Before this summer, the only fruity desserts I really made were with apples or peaches (living in Utah will do that to you... I miss the fruit like crazy!) However, I liked the Blueberry Pie so much that when I found blueberries on sale, I made another pie to put in the freezer. I saved half of the pie dough in preparation for this dessert so it really came together quickly which was perfect. Although I will be the first to admit I've been aching to bake some beautiful, fancy chocolate creation, this fruit was just so pretty that I had a great time on this week's recipe, from start to tasty finish. I'm also a little more keen on fruit desserts and love feeling a little more confident in the pastry world.

I found some beautiful nectarines, plums, and blackberries at Trader Joe's. Just a quick wash and dry, then slicing into quarters, was all the fruit needed. I love simple things like that. They were also so pretty that my son kept trying to grab them off the counter to snitch while I was trying to photograph them!

To make the galette, roll out the pie dough and spread some jam in a circle on the bottom. I used strawberry blueberry freezer jam because, as my husband keeps informing me, we are woefully short on jam at our house (which means, if the Smucker's Raspberry Preserves are all gone, there's not really a point to getting up in the morning.) I couldn't really taste it at the end, though, so I suppose a particular jam-flavored deficiency isn't the end of the world. Then I topped the jam with some crushed graham crackers to help absord the fruit juice. Put the fruit, cut side down, on top and cram in as much as you can- it will shrink down when baked.

Gather up the edges and fold them over to enclose the fruit. Bake on a silicone sheet lined pan.

After the initial bake time, I was seriously tempted to just break out some forks and enjoy this beauty. Without any topping, it still looked juicy, bright, and delicious.

However, I resisted the urge to indulge immediately and put the custard on top, around the fruit. It started out kind of whitish but lost some of it's opacity in the oven. Even so, I thought the custard was a nice touch and I will definitely include it next time (though I only used less than half of the mix, so I will make less.)

She's finally done! I absolutely love this crust recipe and thought it was just the right color and texture. Can you see all the dark, juicy goo coming out of my galette? Even with double the graham cracker crumbs there was a little mess. Next time I'll use a bit more crumbs so that it looks a little nicer!

Out of the oven, the galette was a little intimidating to transfer, but I ended up just picking up either end of the Silpat, plopping it onto the platter, and sliding the mat out like a kitchen magician (that is, very carefully!)

This baby is all dressed up and ready to serve. I loved the rustic look and cutting into it didn't feel so wrong like it does when a dessert is "too" pretty if you know what I mean (but I usually get over that pretty quickly!)

Go ahead, dive in. This isn't a fancy pants dessert- it's a tell-the-photographer-to-hurry up-already and lick-your-fingers kind of dessert. Perfect. This week's Tuesdays with Dorie choice comes from Michelle and you can find the recipe on her blog.