January is galette month

To mark the epiphany, people in France eat a special cake made with puff pastry filled with an almond paste called frangipane. The cake is called une galette des rois (cake of the kings), the kings being those three wise men who took gold, frankincense, and myrrh (myrrh? To a baby shower?) to Bethlehem. The galette traditionally has a little prize hidden inside it and the person who gets the prize in his slice is crowned king for the day (the cakes are sold with paper crowns).

The bottom came out a bit larger than the top, and there was some separation of the two layers. But that didn't affect the taste.

Galettes appear in the bakeries and supermarkets after the new year (sometimes before) and range in price from the affordable to the ridiculously expensive. Years ago, Ken and I decided that our local galettes were getting much too expensive (it's a huge racket any more) and that I should make our own at home. The biggest time investment is in making the puff pastry. After that the cake goes together pretty easily.

I used a sweet chestnut cream filling in place of the almond for a change. It was delicious! I'll probably make another in the next few days. That'll take care of January's special food. Then we have crêpes to look forward to in February.