Hi again! I’m currently zooming in the air, somewhere between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Lets see if I can write this whole thing within the 57 minutes it take to land in LAX. I’m stopping by the blog for a second time this weekend because it seems like a lot of people really want to bake this Bourbon Persimmon Galette for Thanksgiving.  Or maybe you’re just really dying to use up the Fuyu Persimmons sitting in your kitchen. Either way, I’m giving the people what they want!

I’ve probably mentioned this to you before, but I’ve never really made a pie before. I’m definitely a cake person. But there is just something so beautiful and simple about making galettes. Galettes are sort of like open face pies and they have a much better piecrust to filling ratio. Plus there’s no stressing about whether or not your latticework is going to turn out all wonky. To make your life super easy, you could buy store bought pie dough, but I recommend trying your hand at some homemade dough. It’s so easy and satisfying to work the butter into the flour and then you end up feeling like an Ina Garten-esque domestic goddess for making buttery and flakey piecrust in no time! The persimmons could easily be tossed in some brown sugar and thrown on top of your crust to get all juicy and tender, but since it’s the holidays let’s add some bourbon to it and dress it up a little!  This is best served warm with a scoop of ice cream or freshly whipped cream. But I also have a huge suspicion that it would taste excellent as a leftover dessert turned breakfast situation straight out of the fridge. Detailed pie work is probably something I should get some practice in eventually. That and buttercream florals are on my list of “Things to Learn to Up My Food Game.”

 I went to a Bob’s Red Mill Holiday baking event the other night and it was a lot of fun! However, I for sure felt like a very teensy tiny fish in a giant pod. The other attendees were all other food bloggers and then Reuben, lol. As always, he’s the only male at these events because he so sweetly likes to attend these with me.  At least to me, everyone all seemed so professional and actually did food blogging as a full time career. They had business cards, cookbooks in the works, and like a billion followers on Instagram. When I introduced myself, I automatically said, “Hi, I’m Kristina, I’m a designer!” and then I would get a bewildered look that felt like they were thinking, “Oh… wait… so why are you here?” I then quickly realized the context I was in and then blurted out “but I also cook and bake a lot and have a food blog!” It’s still so weird and unnatural for me to say that I’m a food blogger… I guess I am. But it won’t feel REAL until I can wake up everyday and roll into my kitchen while wearing pajamas to whip up all the crazy recipes I thought up before I went to bed. That’s when I get my best ideas : )

Okie dokie. I think the pilot just told us to stow away our electronic devices. Hooray! I wrote this all during the flight and I’m about to be reunited with my BFF, Kate! We are going to be a bunch of Ohio girls and get Jeni’s ice cream after dinner! Or we will probably be a bunch of old ladies and just go to bed and pillow talk for hours.

Happy Galetting!

Bourbon Persimmon Galette

Pie Dough:

2 cups all purpose four
1/2 tsp salt
12 tbsp butter - chilled and cut into cubes
1/3 cup ice water

Bourbon Persimmon Filling:

4 fuyu persimmons
1/2 cup bourbon
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp cinnamon
flakey sea salt

egg wash (1 egg + 1 tbsp water)

make pie dough:

1. Start your pie dough by whisking together flour and salt. Add butter cubes and toss in flour until evenly coated. With your hands, rub the butter into the flour until the flour mixture resembles crumbly wet sand. You still want to be able to see the chunks of butter. Make a well in the middle of your bowl. Add a few tablespoons of ice water at a time and mix just until the dough comes together. Pat dough into a disc and wrap dough in plastic. Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

assemble galette:

1. While the dough is chilling, prepare your persimmons. Remove the stem of the persimmons. Cut them in half. Then with the cut side flat against the cutting board, cut the persimmon in 1/8” thick slices. Try to keep the slices together for a neat arrangement. Repeat with remaining persimmons.

2. In a small sauce pan, bring the bourbon to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce until there is about 4 tablespoons of  liquid remaining. Reduce heat to low. Stir in butter until melted. Add in brown sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon. Stir until all the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

3. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Roll out pie dough on a sheet of parchment paper until it is about 1/8” thick and large enough to cut out a 12”x10” rectangle. Cut out the rectangle and set the scraps aside for optional decoration. Add the sliced persimmons onto the pie dough, leave about 1” clear from the edges. Fold the edges over the persimmons. For a more decorative edge, you can knead together the dough scraps, roll out until it is 1/8” thick and stamp out small circles using piping tip. Brush the folded edges of the galette with an egg wash and place the small dough circles along the edge. Brush the edges again with egg wash. Pour bourbon and sugar mixture over the persimmons.

4. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the persimmons are tender. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Top with some flakey sea salt. Serve warm ice cream, whipped cream, or as is.