Individual Apple Galettes

It's the week of Thanksgiving, woooo! This holiday happens to be my favorite. All of the wonderful food made by my family, ample amounts of wine and cocktails, going over to my cousin's house and celebrating the holiday season! This year I will be missing Thanksgiving and will be in England with my boyfriend's family, but that didn't stop me from holding "Friendsgiving" at our home a couple weekends ago! It was my first time making a turkey (I decided to do a two day brine beforehand) and I, of course, had to make my grandmother's pecan pie for dessert. This is our first big holiday without out her and everything feels incredibly odd, but we are keeping everything lively with non-stop baking, laughing and eating! Regardless of whether or not you spend your holiday with family or friends, it's time to give thanks that we are fortunate enough to be able to do this.

One of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving is the fact that my entire family chips in with the food. Ever since I can remember everyone has been in charge of something. I have a ton of cousins, so holidays have never been a quiet affair and I LOVE that. Are you in charge of anything for your friend or family meals this year? Possibly dessert? Do you want to make a dessert that everyone will be in awe of, but happens to be one of the most simple and easy to make treats out there? This is where my individual apple galettes come in! Serve warm or room temperature, this is a fantastic dessert to follow any meal (I have also eaten these for breakfast on numerous occasions) and don't forget to serve with ice cream! When serving, I like to pre-cut the pastry dough, it causes less of a mess for later and no fighting over who got a bigger piece! Depending on how large your apples are you may not need to use all of them so slice them as you go, this will also prevent them from browning too quickly because of the exposure to the air. Another great thing about this dessert is you do not need to skin your apples. See simple! Have a very happy holiday week! Cheers! 

Serves 8 

Ingredients:

1 sheet of pre-made pastry dough (this can be found in the freezer section at your grocery store)
3/4 - 1 cup sugar (depends on how sweet you want your dessert)
2 tbsp ground cinnamon
5 large apples (I like gala or honeycrisp)
1 stick of very cold unsalted butter cubed
3 tbsp of lemon, orange or apricot jam

Directions:

1. Let your pastry dough come close to room temperature (1-1.5 hours). Once defrosted, unroll the dough
2. Lay your pastry on a silicon baking mat (or parchment paper) on a cookie sheet. There is no rolling required (which makes life MUCH easier)! 
3. Take a pizza cutter or a sharp knife and delicately cut your pastry down the middle width and lengthwise to create a cross section. Take your pizza cutter and cut lengthwise again to create four slices on top and four slices on the bottom. Carefully separate the dough on the sheet so they have enough room to rise. If your cookie sheet is too small you can put some of the slices on another sheet and cook in two batches
4. In a small bowl, mix your sugar and ground cinnamon. Take half of your cinnamon sugar and sprinkle evenly all over the pastry. Don't worry about being messy! 
5. Cut your apples in half and remove the cores. Slice your apples about 1/8 of an inch thick and start placing them on the pastry while slightly overlapping them. Don't overcrowd your pastry, otherwise it won't puff up
6. Once you have finished placing the apples on all of your individual pastry sheets, sprinkle on the rest of your sugar evenly
7. Sprinkle your cubed butter evenly all over your pastry sheets
8. Preheat the oven using your convection setting to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. While the oven is heating up place your cookie sheet in the refrigerator
9. Once the oven has fully heated, place your cookie sheet in the oven and bake your pastry for 30-35 minutes until the pastry has puffed up and is golden brown
10. Once baked, remove the sheet from the oven and with a pastry brush lightly brush the jam onto each of your galettes to create a sheen! This is more for presentation than anything, so make sure not to drown your beautiful desserts!