Today is twelfth night, celebrated in the Christian calendar as Epiphany - the day when the three Kings arrived to visit the baby Jesus. It also marks an official end to all things Christmassy; all the decorations have to be packed away and there are no more parties and nothing more exciting than new year's resolutions to look forward to. This afternoon I undecorated our Christmas tree, carefully packed up all the decorations and was left with the poor little crispy tree looking all forlorn and un-wanted. I'm still feeling a bit guilty about stuffing it unceremoniously in the shed, tomorrow I will hack it up to use as kindling and we can enjoy it as a bright crackly fire this weekend.
Anyway, back to Epiphany. The French have, as ever, devised an excellently buttery way to celebrate what could end up being quite a depressing day - a 'Galette des Rois'. This translates as the 'Kings' cake' and is essentially a layer of buttery almondy frangipane, sandwiched between two layers of buttery puff pastry...excellent. It also has the added excitement of containing hidden treasure and a crown for the one that finds it. The treasure is called the 'feve' (which means bean) and is usually a teeny tiny china figure called a 'santon' (but can equally be a dried bean). Whoever finds the feve gets to wear the crown and be King for the day! My santon collection is already packed up in the Christmas box so I used a Victorian threepenny bit that my Grandpa gave me to put in my Christmas puddings. If you don't happen to have a threepenny bit, a silver sixpence or similar, you could use a whole almond or a raisin.
It is, needless to say, utterly delicious, and luckily nowadays its consumption isn't restricted just to twelfth night, but is munched happily through most of December and January!
400g block puff pastry
3oz/75g soft butter
3oz/75g caster sugar
2 eggs
5oz/125g ground almonds
5/6 drops of almond essence
A feve! (and a crown!)
1 egg yolk
1tbsp milk
Whisk the butter until smooth, then whisk in the sugar and keep whisking until it turns slightly pale. (You can also do this with a wooden spoon if you don't have an electric whisk).
Whisk in one egg with a tablespoonful of the ground almonds, then repeat with the second egg.
Stir in the rest of the ground almonds along with the almond essence. Turn on the oven to gas mark 6/200C.
Cut the block of pastry in half and roll out to a square approximately dinner-plate sized. A plate is actually perfect to cut round, then roll a little bit extra to make it slightly bigger. Spread with the almond paste, leaving an un-almondy edge all the way round. Don't forget to hide your feve!
Roll the other piece of pastry to the same size and use a knife to score a pattern across it.
Brush the pastry edge of the bottom pastry with water, lay the pastry on top and press gently to seal all the way round.
Mix together the egg yolk and milk and brush over the top of the galette. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden. Meanwhile assemble your crown!
Take the galette out of the oven and leave to cool on the tray for ten minutes or so before removing carefully to a cooling rack if you're eating it later, or onto a plate if you're eating it warm.
(oops, the split is where I scored too deeply with my pattern!)
Present with the crown sat on top of the galette. Sadly I didn't get round to making a crown for mine, so just imagine one!
Enjoy warm or cold at any time of the day!
To use up the leftover pastry: pile up the offcuts and roll them out.
Spread with a teaspoon of Marmite watered down with a splash of hot water.
Sprinkle with cheese.
Roll up along the long edge and cut into 1cm thick slices. Place on a greased tray or non stick-liner.
Bake for 25 minutes until golden.
YUM
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