Robyn’s Vegan Pear Galettes

Written by: rpaprocki

This simple pear galette recipe is adapted from Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook’s, Heart-Shaped Apple Galettes. I collaborated with Heather to come up with replacements for vegan shortening and processed sugars. This gluten-free and wheat-free vegan treat uses natural, nutrient-rich sweeteners—like sucanat and fruit. Cute and deeelicious!

Makes: approx: 8-10 | Preparation Time: 90mins

Tools/Extras:
Oven
Standing Mixer
Baking sheets
Parchment paper
Rolling pin (or a thick, smooth glass)
Cooling rack (ideal, but optional. You can always lift parchment off of the baking sheet and lay across your stove range.)
Coffee Grinder (optional)
5″- 6″ Heart-shaped cookie cutter (optional)

Ingredients:
Pear Filling
2 organic pears, cored and sliced very thinly (1/8 of an inch)
6-10 tsp organic fruit preserves (peach or apricot work best)
1 Tbsp organic Sucanat (can substitute with 2 tsp organic cane sugar, but Sucanat is the least processed and most nutritious)
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Crust
2 cups Gluten-free All Purpose Baking Flour
3 Tbsp organic Sucanat (can substitute with 1 Tbsp organic cane sugar, but Sucanat is the least processed and most nutritious)
1/2 cup chilled coconut oil
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup very cold water
1 tsp Celtic or pink Himalayan sea salt

Let’s Get Started:
Before you begin, place all ingredients in the fridge for a few hours. This step isn’t necessary, but it makes for a lighter, flakier crust. When you’re ready to start, combine flour, sucanat (run through a coffee grinder first, for a fine, powdery texture) and sea salt in a large bowl. If you don’t have a coffee grinder you can skip this step. It is just a slight textural difference, not a taste difference. Now, cut the coconut oil into the flour mixture by the tablespoonful. When you’ve got it all in there, the dough should look crumbly (bottom, left).

In a separate bowl, combine the vinegar with the 1/2c of the water. Add this liquid mixture a bit at a time into the flour mixture. The crumbly dough should now be getting more clumpy. When all of the liquid has been thoroughly combined, your dough should be just sticking together (bottom, right). If you have more than a few balls of dough that are straggling, you may need to add up to 1/4c more water. Add it slowly, though, because you don’t want it to get too sticky.

Gather the dough and kneed gently until it holds together well. Form it into a ball, and flatten slightly in the bottom of the mixing bowl. Put it in the fridge for 15 minutes to let it cool down (bottom, left) to a cool working temperature again, but don’t leave it in for too long.

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper (or grease them lightly with coconut oil). In a coffee grinder, pulse the sucanat for a fine, crystalline texture. No biggie if you don’t have a coffee grinder (you can skip this step), it is just a textural difference, not a taste difference. In a small bowl, mix together the sucanat and cinnamon.

Lightly flour your counter top, and roll out the dough to be about 1/4″ thick. You may need to flour your rolling pin (or thick, smooth glass) to prevent the dough from sticking. Using a knife, or heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out heart shapes, about 5 inches across and 5 inches tall (bottom, right). Now, you can use a 3″ cookie cutter too. Just roll out your dough a bit thicker, cut your shapes and then lightly roll that cut heart shape until it gets larger. Cut as many as you can, and then kneed the scraps together to form another ball. Repeat the process until you have used all of the dough. I usually get 8-10 galettes from one recipe. The last one, I usually have to form by hand. It might look a little weird, but it’s just as tasty as the rest!

Roll in the edges of the crust (bottom, left), and use a butter knife to score on a slight angle. This secures the edge in place. Spread a teaspoon of preserves on each galette, and top with pear slices. Feel free to stack them a bit for a pretty design, but don’t pile them on there—they may not cook all the way. Brush the pear tops and rolled crust with a tad of coconut oil if you like. If you are not concerned with the category “vegan”, you can also brush raw, humanely-harvested honey on the pears and crust—it browns nicely. Sprinkle all galettes with the cinnamon and sucanat mixture.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Cool on racks to keep the crust from getting soggy.

Enjoy!

Be sure to check your local health food store for unique and organic ingredients. Ask them to stock, or special order, what you need. Also check the bulk section for extra cost savings.

Where to purchase some of the unique ingredients online:
Find raw, wild-harvested honey and coconut oil at Sunfood Nutrition.

You can find the following at Amazon:
Fine Ground Celtic Sea Salt
Pink Himalayan Salt (Pack of 3)
Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
Raw Organic Manuka Honey
Organic Fair Trade Raw Honey (Pack of 3)
Raw Honey
Organic Sucanat
All-Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour (Pack of 4)