Apple Galette With Currants and Cinnamon - A Dessert Everyone Will Love

Americans love apple pie. This dessert, whether it is topped with a scoop of ice cream or a slice of cheddar cheese, is a crowd-pleaser. Pleasing as it is, apple pie is very caloric. That is the bad news. The good news is that you can lower the calories significantly by making a few simple changes.

You cut out hundreds of calories if you make a one-crust pie -- a galette -- instead of a two-crust pie. Using sugar-free canned apple pie filling cuts more calories. The French dot their apple galettes with butter. Eliminating the butter lowers the calories even more. The rim of the galette is sprinkled with a little sugar before baking, but you may eliminate this step.

During the holidays I make the galettes several days ahead of time and freeze them. Sometimes I use dried cranberries instead of currants. One hour before dinner I take the galettes out of the freezer and bring them to room temperature. To get that freshly-baked aroma and taste, I warm the galettes in a 200 degree oven for about 10 minutes before serving.

You may bring the warm galette to the table on a platter and ask a guest to slice it. The galette tastes good plain, or you may top it with sugar-free, fat-free whipped topping, whipped cream, vanilla ice cream or yogurt, or cinnamon ice cream when it is available. Apple Galette with Currants and Cinnamon is a fragrant, flavorful and comforting end to holiday dinner.

INGREDIENTS

1 15-ounce package of refrigerated pie crusts (two crusts per box)

2 1-pound, 4-ounce cans of sugar-free apple pi filling

3 Granny Smith apples, peeled and thinly sliced

1/4 cup currants

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Zest of one lemon

1 egg, room temperature

2 tablespoons sugar

METHOD

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Get two baking sheets and place one pie crust on each one. In a large bowl, combine apple pie filling, sliced fresh apples, currants, lemon zest and cinnamon. Spoon equal amounts of filling in the center of each crust, leaving a 1 1/2-inch border around the edge. Fold the edge of the galettes into pleats.

Beat the egg well with a fork. Add a little water to the beaten egg to make an egg wsh. Brush the egg wash on the rim of each galette. Sprinkle the rim of each galette with a tablespoon of sugar.

Bake galettes until the filling is bubbling and the rims are golden brown. Cool galettes on wire racks for 15-20 minutes and serve while still warm. Two galettes will serve 16 people.

Copyright 2008 by Harriet Hodgson