Oftentimes, the life of a chef is spent cooking food in a restaurant for someone else. You rarely have the energy to make yourself an amazing meal when you’re home. Many times, my fridge was simply filled with water, eggs and maybe an old to-go container of Chinese takeout from the weekend.
Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love cooking for others. It’s my passion. There’s a simple joy of watching someone else eat food I make, and I don’t know if I’ll ever get over that feeling!
Anyway, before I started “Quarantine Cookie,” I rarely baked at home because I was spending 50 or more hours of my week baking at work. Last March, when the pandemic began, I finally had spare time to simply bake.
This recipe is a favorite of my fiance and I from baking during quarantine. Personally, I love using this Mixed Berry Gallette in the summers to use up any spare fruit from farmers markets.
Mixed Berry Gallette
Servings: 8
Dough:
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour, plus additional for surface
- 1 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter
- 4 tablespoons ice water
Filling:
- 4 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup sugar, plus additional for dusting, divided
- 3/4 cup raspberry jam
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup strawberries
- 1 cup blueberries
- 1 cup blackberries
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 egg
- whipped cream or ice cream, for serving
To make dough:
- In bowl, whisk sugar, salt and 1 1/3 cups flour. Cut butter into six rectangular pieces. Toss butter in flour mixture then dump mixture onto counter.
- Using rolling pin, roll butter into flour until long flexible strips form; use bench scraper to scrape butter off rolling pin or surface as needed.
- Use bench scraper to gather mixture into loose pile then drizzle ice water in middle.
- Using hands and bench scraper, toss mixture until water is distributed then gather into rectangular pile.
- Roll dough into long rectangle about 8 inches wide then use bench scraper to fold dough into thirds. Dough should be crumbly and loose.
- Using bench scraper, turn rectangle 90 degrees and repeat rolling and folding, gathering loose bits of dough from outer edges into center and flouring surface as needed. Repeat rolling and folding third time. Squeeze loose bits into dough disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.
- Once chilled, roll dough on lightly floured surface to 12-14-inch round. Dust surface and rolling pin with flour as needed and rotate dough often to prevent wide cracks. If dough sticks to surface, lift one side and scatter flour underneath before continuing. Roll dough onto pin then unfurl on sheet of parchment paper. Slide onto rimmed baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and chill.
To make filling:
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- In small pot, combine cornstarch, lemon juice, salt and 1/2 cup sugar. Stir in jam and vanilla. Turn on medium heat until mixture boils then add strawberries, blueberries and blackberries. Stir together and cook until filling thickens, 5-10 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Strain mixture to separate excess juice from berry filling. Keep filling in bowl then reduce liquid by half in pot. Once reduced, add liquid back to berry mixture. Stir in lemon zest. Cool overnight.
- Once berry mixture cools, scoop berry mixture in center of chilled rolled dough on parchment-covered baking sheet. Spread on dough, leaving mound in middle and 3-inch border on outside. Fold edges of dough over fruit, pleating as needed and being careful folded edge of dough doesn’t tear.
- Place galette in oven and immediately reduce heat to 375 F. Bake, rotating halfway through, until crust is deep golden brown and berries are bubbling, 30-45 minutes. Let cool 2 hours before serving.Whisk egg and brush over crust evenly then sprinkle with additional sugar.
- Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.
Hi everyone! I am Elee Hampton, owner of “Quarantine Cookie” or @Quarantinecookie_. You might recognize me on Instagram. I live in Kansas City with my fiancé, Abel, and our kitty, Jasmine Pearl. I am a Kansas native and grew up spending a lot of time in the kitchen with my mom. My favorite gift as a kid was an Easy-Bake Oven, so when I graduated high school, I decided to surpass easy-bake status and pursued the life of a pastry chef.
I left Kansas and attended The Culinary Institute of America in New York. After graduating, I started a pastry job in NYC. Like many other food service workers in NYC, I lost my job due to COVID-19 in March 2020. To turn things around, I started “Quarantine Cookie” and moved back to Kansas City.
In my free time, you can usually find me at a local farmers market, enjoying a latte in one of my many favorite coffee shops or simply chilling in one of KC's many parks. Aside from that, you’ll find me in the kitchen creating new recipes for QC flavors of the month or delivering cookies throughout the city!