On Friday, Beanie was crowned queen of her nursery school. Let me explain. They ate some Galette des Rois (Kings’ Pie) during the morning session and she found a small figurine in her piece of cake, which made her queen for the day! Still confused? We have many quirky traditions in France, quite a few of which are based around food.
One of my favourite ones is the Galette des Rois. We share the puff pastry pie with family and friends in January to celebrate the Epiphany. Traditionally, the first Galette of the year is eaten on the first Sunday in January.
A small china figurine is hidden inside the frangipane filling. An adult cuts the warm pie into slices and the youngest member of the family chooses who gets each slice. Whoever gets the fève (figurine) becomes king or queen for the day and is expected to buy or make the next pie. They also choose their king or queen.
It is a tradition my children and I are all really fond of. They usually ask me when we are going to make “the cake with the statue in” from mid-November. Their enthusiasm is contagious!
The little ones always start by making the paper crown. This year was no exception and Crevette really applied himself to make two nice crowns.
Frangipane is really easy to make. Beanie started by beating the softened butter. Crevette added the sugar and Beanie whisked until the mixture was pale and fluffy.
Crevette added the beaten egg and mixed before folding in the ground almonds. I spread half the pastry on a large flan dish and Crevette made small holes on its surface with a fork.
After spreading the frangipane evenly over the pastry, the children agreed on where to hide the figurine. I added another round of pastry on top and we sealed the pie before glazing and baking it.
Beanie got the figurine and chose her big brother as her king.
La Galette des Rois
Ingredients
- 400 g puff pastry
- 60 g softened butter
- 75 g caster sugar
- 75 g ground almonds
- A lightly beaten large free-range egg plus an egg yolk for glazing
- A small china figurine and a paper crown
Instructions
- Heat your oven to gas mark 7 (220 degrees Celsius / 425 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Grease a flan dish with butter and dust with flour.
- Cut the puff pastry in half. Roll out each piece. Place one round in the flan dish.
- To make the frangipane, beat together the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the egg and mix well. Stir in the ground almonds.
- Spread the mixture evenly over the pastry and add the china figurine.
- Cover with the second pastry round. Brush the edges of the pastry with water and press the edges to seal.
- Using the tip of a knife, draw a pattern on the pie. Brush with beaten egg yolk mixed with a little water.
- Bake for 30 minutes until crisp and golden. Serve warm.
This is such a fun tradition. We have a lovely French Patisserie near us which I go to (a bit too often) and just the other day spotted a very similar looking pie with a gold paper crown placed on top. I was wondering what the gold crown was for but now I know. I too love keeping up fun traditions – we have so many in India too.
If I had a French patisserie near my house, I would be there every day. I am addicted to French cakes! Last week, I met a teacher whose husband is a pastry chef. Need I mention I went back to see her and gave her a (long) list of cakes for which I would love the recipes. Excited, moi?
I love this tradition, we have a similar Greek tradition when we celebrate St Basil’s day on the 1st of January. A cake is baked with a £1 coin and whoever finds it, is supposed to have a lucky year. Loved this post! Thanks for linking up x
I had never heard of your Greek tradition. I love it! Do you make a specific cake or is it just any cake?
Sounds like a fun and tasty tradition! x
It is. We have had four so far!
Elle à l’air délicieuse votre galette ! Les enfants sont bien travaillé ! Ils ont fait sa propre couronne ! Tu doit être fière Mel 🙂
Ils aiment bien faire leurs couronnes et la gallette était délicieuse!
Je voulais la faire dimanche et je devais retrouver la recette mais plus besoin. Merci. Xxx trop hâte
La recette de la frangipane est un peu différente de la tienne (moins de beurre, plus d’amandes), mais je pense que tu aimeras! xx
What a great tradition! I’d never heard of that one before, how cool! x
Brilliant, isn’t it? It means we eat way too much cake in January, but hey, who is counting the calories?
What a lovely lovely tradition!! I guess its a little bit like if you find the lucky sixpence in your Christmas pudding? I would definitely like to be queen for a day 🙂 x
#littlechefs
I love traditions like this. I had never heard of the lucky sixpence, but I have never had Christmas pudding.
Oh Mel, you know how much I love reading about your French food traditions and this looks utterly delicious. i am curious… What is the figure?!
What do you mean, sweetie? The small china figurine? It is like a tiny statue.
Ooooh, I was imagining a Peppa Pig that you’d knabbed from the toy box!! So is he a little King that you keep for this each year? (Can you tell I love nerdy kitchen facts?!) x
He he! The kids wanted to put Hello Kitty in our first galette this year, but baking plastic toys is not my thing! The ones I keep year after year at home are a little baker and pastry chef. So far this year at my mum’s, we have had Merlin, a smurf and a car.
Aww, I love this. Thanks for humoring me 😉
xxx
What a lovely tradition and lovely that it is one the children look forward to x #tastytuesdays
They love it! I wish my little Jumpy could eat it. Maybe one day if all her allergies disappear.
That sounds like such a fun tradition and the pie looks and sounds very tasty too 🙂
Frangipane is addictive! I always have to stop myself from eating half of it before covering it with pastry and baking the pie.
Such a wonderful tradition, I can see why your children like.
Great fun, isn’t it?
What a lovely tradition and great fun. Love the galette as well, it looks really tasty
It is yummy!
J’adore ce post!! Brings back lovely childhood memories of Christmases with my French family! x
J’adore la galette des rois! I always find it hard not to make it all the time.I just follow tradition and make it between the 1st Sunday in January and the end of the month. x
This is such a great recipe! I have been looking for a recipe for such a long time. It tastes like the one from my bakery in Antibes! Waouh! Merci!
Oh yeah! So glad you gave it a go ma belle 🙂