This Saturday is the Twelfth Day of Christmas. I'm sure we won't see (or hear) twelve drummers drumming, but we will see a galette des rois, a special kind of tart made with pâte feuilletée (puff pastry) and filled with frangipane (almond paste) that's customary this time of year. I've been making galettes nearly every year for a while. I got into making my own because the ones from the supermarket aren't very good and the ones from a bakery cost way too much.
From the archives: inside the cathedral at Rouen, Normandy. Digitized color slide; not sure of the date.
They're not difficult to make, but it does take time to roll and fold the dough into a good puff pastry. Buying ready-made puff pastry does make it all easier, but it's not as satisfying as doing the thing myself. So I do.
I have never made puff pastry - I should. Are you a candle lighter? Surprisingly I am, I am not catholic, not a practitioner of any organized religion, but light candles against the darkness.
ReplyDeleteWell said. A good philosophy!
DeleteAnother place I still haven’t visited. As always your photo is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteAnd this is a place I must go to.
ReplyDeleteBettyAnn
I would love to taste your galette des rois!
ReplyDeleteThe Christmas season comes to a complete halt here on 26 December.
ReplyDeleteOne day with your encouragement I will make my own puff pastry; yours must taste fantastic as I have never been dissatisfied with the Pepperidge farm variety (of course, you have been eating french pastry for decades now so I'm guessing your taste buds are at a higher level than mine!
ReplyDeleteA bit blasphemous, but I must say that Christ Jesus looks as if he is enjoying a sauna in his crown of thorns. An odd selection for statuary, it seems, and a strange location in the cathedral as well. I wonder what the little wooden door on the wall at the left leads to?
ReplyDeletetravel, no, I'm not, but now that you've put it into another light (see what I did there?), maybe I'll start!
ReplyDeletemitch, there are so many places to visit!
bettyann, it's a nice day-trip from Paris on the train. ;)
evelyn, I've got to get in gear to get it done for tomorrow!
michael, are the Valentine's day decorations up in the stores yet? :)
mary, I don't know about my taste buds, but it's fun to try your hand at some of these traditional things, even knowing the bakeries probably do better. But not always!
kiwi, haha!