This easy-to-make rustic Apple Cranberry Galette is a delicious fall favorite dessert with a buttery flaky crust filled with fresh apple slices and tart cranberries. No pie dish is required for this free-form pie.

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Thinking of making a pie but don't want something easier? This galette is the answer, I am here to tell you that galettes are just so much easier to make than a pie but you still get all the delicious fruit and flaky pie dough.
And, when apples and cranberries are in season, say hello to a favorite fall dessert.
You can also use this delicious fruit duo and make some tasty cakes, bread, or scones, and if you don't want to bake try an Apple Cranberry Salad or make this creamy Apple Cranberry Oatmeal.
Jump to:
Gather your ingredients
- Store-bought pie dough
- Or you can make your own with this Flaky Pie Dough Recipe.
- Apples - I used pink lady apples for this recipe, but Fuji and Gala will also work.
- Cranberries - you can use fresh or frozen
- Granulated Sugar
- Cinnamon
- Lemon juice
- Butter
What is a galette?
I am a true pie lover, but making galettes is really so much easier to make than a pie.
A true galette is a French pastry that is flat and made with bread dough or pastry dough. For those of you that don't like all the rolling and fitting pie dough into a pie pan, you should try making a galette. You simply roll pastry dough into a circle, add your filling, then fold the edges in and bake. So much easier than pie.
With the simplicity of this galette, you can quickly make this rustic tart, and unlike a pie that needs to sit for a while, you can slice your galette almost immediately. That means you get a warm slice of pastry-fruity goodness quicker.
Let's bake a dessert
Step 1. Make your pastry dough and roll the dough into a large circle. My dough recipe is for a double-crust pie so I always have plenty of dough for rolling.
Step 2. Next cut the dough into a 12" round circle. To make rolling dough easy I love using a muslin pastry cloth and a french rolling pin.
Important - at this time you need to transfer the dough to a baking sheet.
Step 3. Core the apples and cut into thin slices then add them to a medium mixing bowl. Add the sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon, and mix all together to coat.
Step 4. Start placing the apples in a round circle on the pie dough leaving at least an inch border.
Step. 5 Fold the dough around the apples then sprinkle the cranberries on top and into the little nooks and crannies.
Step 6. Almost done, you just have to dot the top of the apples with cold pieces of butter.
Step 7. Bake the galette in a 400-degree F. oven for 45 minutes. And here it is the most delicious apple galette with tender sweet cinnamon-spiced apples, and ruby cranberries all nestled in a golden brown crust. YUM!
Tips on making pie dough
- Get everything cold, the colder the better.
- Cut the butter into small cubes and put them in the freezer.
- If you are using shortening, put that in a measuring cup and put that in the freezer too.
- On really hot days you can even chill the flour to get it cold.
- You don't want the butter or shortening to be melty, you want to see pieces of the fat in the dough.
- For other tips on pie dough make sure to check out How to Make A Flaky Pie Crust.
And for those times you have left-over pie dough you can make my favorite treat, Jelly Roll Pie Tarts. It's worth having leftover dough just to have these tarts.
Galettes are easy to make
There are so many reasons I love making and eating galettes. They don't need a lot of fruit. I just used two apples, after all, we are not making a pie that is piled high with fruit.
You can use any type of fruit you want, so during the summer try using peaches, cherries, or raspberries. Mix the fruit with sugar and maybe a bit of lemon juice and dot with butter and that will make a luscious filling.
Apple recipes to make
Serve these Apple Cream Scones warm from the oven and then be prepared moist and tender apple-studded pastries that can be made and baked in under an hour.
Simply roll out the pie dough and cut into 6" circles. Place the circles on a baking sheet and add the apple filling and bake.
The best way is to brush the bottom of the unbaked dough with a beaten egg white before adding the filling.
You can make the pie dough several days ahead, but a galette is best served the day it's made.
More tasty One Hot Oven recipes
~the crust is buttery and flaky and the fruit is tender and so flavorful ~
Recipe
Apple-Cranberry Galette
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Equipment
Ingredients
Flaky Pie Dough
- 2 ½ cups AP flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup butter, cubed and cold
- ½ cup cold vegetable shortening
- 6-7 tablespoons ice water
Apple-Cranberry Filling
- 2 apples, cored and sliced thin
- â…“ cup granulated sugar
- ½ tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. lemon juice
- ½ cup cranberries
- 1 tablespoons butter, small cubes
Instructions
Making the Pie Dough
- In a large bowl mix the flour and salt.
- Add the cold cubed butter and shortening to the flour mixture. With a pastry cutter or two knives, cut the butter into the flour until the butter is pea size.
- Start adding the water one tablespoon at a time and mix with a fork until the dough forms a ball.
- On a floured surface, turn out the dough and form into a disk. Lightly flour and roll the dough into a large circle about 12 inches. There is plenty of pastry dough to roll, so I roll a large circle then cut a perfectly round circle using a large bowl about 15 inches. This dough can also just be free-form.
- Transfer the dough circle to a baking sheet lined with parchment.
Preparing the Apples and Making the Galette
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. and prepare a baking sheet with parchment.
- Core and thinly slice the apples.
- Place the apples in a bowl and add the sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice. Toss to coat
- Start placing the apples in a circle on the pastry dough, overlapping the slices until you reach the center. Leave at least an inch on the edge to roll up the dough.
- Roll up the dough around the apples, pleating as you go.
- Scatter the cranberries over the apples and then dot with butter.
- Bake in a 400 degree F. oven for about 45 minutes until the crust is golden and the apples are tender.
Notes
Nutrition
First published: Nov 21, 2020, Last updated: Oct. 22, 2022, for better readability.
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About Jere'
From learning to cook on a farm in Indiana to culinary school in California, my passion for food is never-ending. Turning on my oven to bake something for friends and family is my happy place, and I am glad to be here at One Hot Oven sharing both sweet and savory family-friendly recipes for your cooking and baking inspiration.
Mihaela | https://theworldisanoyster.com/
You found the perfect ice cream to go with it!:) Beautiful dessert! I have to try it soon, preferably with cinnamon ice cream:)
Giangi Townsend
Looks absolutely amazing and all those wonderful flavors blend to perfection. A perfect galette.
Cat | Curly's Cooking
This looks absolutely delicious, the flavours sound lovely. I've been wanting to make a galette for a while now so I'll have to give this a go.