Boysenberry Galette

Individual galettes made with a buttery crust filled with sweetened boysenberries.

It’s boysenberry season and our vines are bursting with berries. When I found Gracie Lee, my boxer/pit, in the garden helping herself to mouthfuls of berries right off the vine, I knew it was time for harvest. Gracie Lee was my foster, but because of medical issues, no one wanted to adopt her even though she’s cute as a bug. Now this berry picker, who steals boysenberries out of my colander as I pick them, has her own Instagram account and last year was the Animal League Defense Fund’s Holiday Card of the year!  

Anyway, getting back to the boysenberries…every summer I make a pie with the first pick of the season. This year, since I now have this blog, I decided to make individual galettes, small enough to be eaten by hand. If you do want to serve them on a plate, they’re delicious with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. 

Depending on the sweetness of your berries, you can adjust the sugar. If I know I’m going to serve it with ice cream, I leave the filling on the tart side. If it’s going to be an eat-with-your-hands dessert, I make the filling a bit sweeter. You can also use the same recipe and turn them into hand pies for freezing. I do that, so all summer long we have berry pies to enjoy. Not a boysenberry fan? Use blackberries or raspberries, but use less sugar. Same kind of scrummy!  

Makes 6

• Small cookie cutter

Crust:

• 1½ cups flour
• ¾ tsp. salt
• 9 T cold sweet butter, cut into chunks
• 1 egg yolk (reserve white)
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 3–5 tsp. ice water

Filling:

• 3 cups boysenberries
• ½ cup sugar (more or less depending on sweetness of berries)
• ¼ tsp. cinnamon
• 4 tsp. cornstarch
• extra sugar for dusting

For the crust, if you use a food processor, combine the flour and salt. Add the butter and pulse until it resembles coarse meal. Or, you can use a pastry blender. Add the egg yolk and blend. Then add the water, one teaspoon at a time. Blend until the dough clumps and forms a ball.

Place boysenberries in large bowl. Add the sugar, cinnamon and cornstarch. Toss gently, so the berries don’t get crushed.

Take about one third of the dough and flatten into a disc on a flour-dusted cutting board. With a rolling pin, flatten the dough into a rectangle large enough to cut two 5½-inch circles using a bowl or small plate. Dust with a little flour if it gets sticky. Using a small cookie cutter, cut six flowers for decorating the edge.

Mound ½ cup of the berry mixture in the center of the crust, leaving a 1¼-inch border. Carefully fold edges of pastry over berries, pleating edges as you move around the circle. Use a wide spatula and place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Beat egg white and brush pastry. Place three small flowers on edge and brush them with egg white. Sprinkle with sugar.

When six galettes are made, bake in oven at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes or until golden. Cool on sheet for at least 15 minutes to set crust. Use a wide spatula to remove.