Rustic Cherry Galette

One of my favourite parts about living in the Okanagan Valley, is the abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables available pretty much all summer long. We’re so lucky to have amazing farmers markets throughout the valley, and I love that I know exactly where my food is coming from. Before I came to the Okanagan, I can’t say I was much of a cherry eater. Our neighbours had a huge cherry tree in their backyard and part of it’s long branches hung over our side of the fence. When the cherries would blossom in the early summer we would always pick a few here and there and eat them. I can’t say I was overly impressed with the cherry at this point in my life. But when I moved to Kelowna, I noticed people constantly raving about how incredibly delicious the cherries were around here. Even tourists were asking me where to find them.  For some reason, they’re just incredible! Once you start eating them, it’s hard to stop. They’re so juicy and sweet, and they make the perfect snack. Last weekend I was at the Peachland Farmers Market, and it seemed like every other vendor at the market had cherries for sale. They were everywhere! I ended up buying mine from the cutest little old man there, and I knew exactly what I was going to do with them when I got home. Before I leave you with this delicious recipe, here are a few  health benefits of cherries:

• They contain powerful antioxidant compounds
• They contain vitamin C, fibre and carotenoids
• They can help reduce inflammation
• Tart cherries contain high levels of melatonin, a phytochemical that helps regulate the sleep cycle

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I knew I wanted to make this recipe gluten and grain free, but I was a little bit nervous to be honest. I thought the texture of the dough would taste like cardboard and be really unappealing. I’m no stranger to a good pie crust, and I like them tender, flakey and not too dense. I didn’t have much of an expectation for this version, but I can tell you I was very surprised with how well it turned out!   It’s important to follow the instructions for the crust exactly as written or you might end up with a slimy mess instead of a dough ball. If you over mix when you’re using almond flour it will quickly start to turn into a creamy texture. Make sure you just use the pulse button on your food processor and do quick little pulses until you reach that meal-like texture. Using cold butter is another important step here. Finally, make sure you refrigerate your dough for at least one hour before you try to roll it out, and also make sure your kitchen isn’t too hot when you’re ready to roll it out. Once I rolled rolled out my dough, put the cherries over top, and was ready to fold over the edges, the dough had become so warm and it was a bit more difficult to work with. Luckily I was going for more of a rustic galette so I wasn’t too worried if it didn’t turn out totally polished. Instead of adding tons of extra arrowroot starch to my rolling pin to prevent sticking, I prefer to place another piece of parchment paper on top of the dough and roll over that. I find if you add too much extra starch, your dough will become too stiff and not as tender once it’s baked. The cherry mixture is pretty straight forward and speaks for itself. I used sweet cherries in this recipe, but I bet tart cherries would be even more delicious. Let me know if you try it with tart cherries in the comments below 🙂 The final touches to the outside of the crust was an egg wash, followed by slivered almonds, and then once it came out of the oven I dusted it with powdered sugar. It turned out so tender and delicious and if I had some coconut milk vanilla ice-cream in the house I would have scooped that over top as soon as it came out of the oven!