Strawberry Galette + The Winner

If I were to choose my bane in baking, it would be pie crust. No matter what I do, it seems, my crusts inevitably turn out tough or crumbly, even if I use all white flour.

Grandma K. agrees with me. Pies are evil.

This recipe may of have changed my mind. Slightly. It was the first pie crust that I was sort of proud of. There was no toughness in sight, it was flaky not crumbly and had lovely flavor. I’m still mighty leery of pies, but I just might have the courage make another using this crust recipe.

Recipe notes:

• The original recipe called for a basil cream sauce, but it sounded a bit strange to me so I left it out.
• Reuben, who does not like overly sweet desserts, thought this was bit tart. Perhaps another time I would increase the sweetness slightly.
• With the leftover dough and strawberries, I made little hand pies.

Strawberry Galette | adapted from Martha Stewart | makes 8-10 servings | printable page

For The Dough

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
• 1 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 8 ounces (1 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons ice water

For The Galette

• 1 pound strawberries, hulled
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar (I used evaporated cane juice)
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Directions:

1. Make the dough: (I mixed the dough by hand using a pastry cutter) Pulse flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor to combine. Add butter, and pulse until mixture forms coarse crumbs. Add ice water, and pulse until just combined (dough will still be crumbly). Shape dough into a disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a floured surface, roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out a 10-inch round, and transfer to a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Make the galette: Cut strawberries lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Reserve end pieces for another use. Toss slices with 1/4 cup sugar and the cornstarch, and immediately arrange them in concentric circles on dough. Start 1 inch from edge, overlapping slices slightly. Fold edge of dough over berries. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
4. Whisk together yolk and water. Brush dough with the egg wash, and sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar. Dot berries with butter. Bake until crust is golden brown, 40 to 45 minutes.
5. Transfer to a serving plate. Serve warm with basil cream and fried basil.

Now For the Giveaway Winner!

And the winner of Pioneer Woman’s Cooking Essentials is…

Commenter #77, Nikki Sportsman, who said: “on toast, with jam.”

That’s one of my favorites, too!

Congratulations, Nikki! I will contact you soon.

Thank you to all who entered the giveaway! Have a lovely day.

WIN Pioneer Woman’s Cooking Essentials!

Disclosure: The author (that’s me) received a gift package from Land O’Lakes, including two cookbooks, a whisk, a slotted spoon, tongs and a full-value coupon redeemable for LAND O LAKES^® Butter with Olive Oil & Sea Salt, for recipe development and review purposes. All opinions are my own.

Now that the formalities are out of the way, let’s talk butter.

Anyone who knows me knows I’m a major fan of butter. Besides being incredibly healthy, it just plain tastes awesome. On just about everything. That’s why I was excited to be able to test and review some new butter from Land O’Lakes.

Pioneer woman has teamed up with Land O’Lakes to help sing the praises of one of their new products: Butter with Olive Oil and Sea Salt. Last month I was lucky enough to be able to attend a webinar hosted by Ree, in which she detailed some of the wonderful qualities of butter, its history and how to cook with it.

It was so informative and fun, and the folks at Land O’Lakes even sent me a thank-you package with some awesome items (more on that later). When I couldn’t find any of the butter in our little town, Land O’Lakes sent the butter straight to my door. Yep, I was impressed.

To test out the butter, I decided to see how it performed in baking. Using my buttermilk biscuits recipe as a base, I substituted the olive oil & sea salt butter for all of the fat, added a bit of rosemary and brushed the tops of the biscuits with extra virgin olive oil. They were simply scrumptious. My sisters-in-law and I gobbled them down (spread with the olive oil butter & honey, of course) before Reuben could give them a try. Poor guy was rather disappointed.

Final Breakdown of What I Think of the Butter:

• Because there is some oil in this butter, it comes to room temperature faster than “regular” butter, which is quite handy.
• I was a bit skeptical when I heard about this product – it’s “adulterating” my perfect food, I thought. And whereas I think it’s an awesome idea to pair olive oil and butter, I wish Land O’Lakes would have used extra virgin olive oil, which is much healthier.
• As for taste, it’s lovely. I would say, since there’s only one less gram of saturated fat in the olive oil butter than regular butter (olive oil is mostly monounsaturated fat), it’s still mostly butter. Thus, the olive oil doesn’t overpower the butter flavor, it just complements it slightly. It’s wonderful spread on bread and crackers. The sea salt is also a nice addition.

But on to the giveaway. Land O’Lakes will be giving away Ree’s Cooking Essentials (the same package I received) to one lucky Cooking for Seven reader! The winner will receive both of Ree’s cookbooks, a whisk, a slotted spoon, tongs, and a full-value coupon for Land O’Lakes Butter with Olive Oil and Sea Salt.

Here’s how you can enter to win:

Leave a comment on this post answering the following question: What’s your favorite use of butter and/or olive oil?

Rules:

• US residents only, please.
• Only one comment per person allowed.
• You must leave a valid email address in the comment form so I can contact you if you win.
• Giveaway ends Wednesday, July 25th and 12:00 noon, Central Time. No comments will be considered for the giveaway after that time.
• Using random.org, I will choose one winner. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new winner will be selected.

Good Luck!