Salted Caramel Apple Galette
This salted caramel apple galette is a delicious alternative to the classic apple pie. Buttery pie crust folded into a rustic tart shape, with sliced apples, cinnamon and salted caramel topping.
Galettes are like the pie’s laid back sibling. They have the same parents but how they hang out is different. I personally love a galette over a pie because I find them simpler to make and I prefer the ratio of filling to crust. While I was making one of my balsamic roasted strawberry galettes for family, I decided I need to make a more fall version and mentally wrote down to make a caramel apple galette.
Apple flavored desserts sometimes are a big win for me and sometimes a let down. I really love my Apple Cider Scones and my Apple Cheddar Scones. This in some ways will feel similar because the crust is buttery and not particularly sweet but apple and caramel will be. I wanted to make something with apple pie flavor but.. not apple pie. For me, a galette does that. Maybe for some this will feel the same and that’s a good thing. But also, I wanted a little extra decadent and that meant adding homemade salted caramel sauce which is just chef’s kiss.
Baking Notes & Tips
I promise the most difficult part about this galette is making the caramel. Caramel LOOKS suspiciously easy but often can be finnicky. So, if you want super easy it’s totally fine to buy premade caramel sauce or melt caramels down. That being said, the juice is worth the squeeze so to speak. Homemade caramel sauce is much better than anything I’ve ever found at the store.
I have included the steps to make the caramel here, but I also have a dedicated caramel recipe page if you’d like more tips or information on it.
When rolling out your dough for the caramel apple galette, make sure to keep your dough chilled. After I assemble the galette I pop it in the freezer for 20 minutes or so just to help it keep it’s shape. I’d also recommend using a baking sheet with a lip on it, just in case any juice from the apple spills out it doesn’t go right to the bottom of your oven. How thick your slice the apples is preference, but I’d keep it between 1/4 inch and 1/8 inch. You can probably go a little thicker if you want the apples to be a bit firmer out of the oven. Additionally make sure to chill/freeze your apple galette before your bake it. This helps with structure.
Salted Caramel Apple Galette Key Ingredients
- Apple – Obviously if you’re making a caramel apple galette you’re going to need some apples. Honestly, what type of apple is subjective to what you like but there are types that bake better than others and I’d say stick to those first. Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith are some of the more popular and usual choices. I chose to use Honeycrisp and Granny smith so I had a sweet and more tart apple for varied flavor.
- Butter – Butter is essential to pie crust, and if you can swing it get some good butter. You will taste a difference. However, cheap store brand butter works fine. I would not use margarine!
- Sugar – There isn’t a ton of sugar in the filling and none in the galette itself but the caramel is where the sugar comes in. You don’t have to make your own caramel but I would highly suggest it because it is so much better.
Ingredients
Crust
- 113 g Unsalted butter ½ cup, cold
- 200 g AP Flour 1â…” cup
- 5 g Salt ¾ tsp
- 1 tbsp Vodka
- 4-5 tbsp Ice water
Filling
- 600 g Apples ~3-4 apples, peeled & sliced
- 25 g Dark brown Sugar 2 tbsp
- 15 g AP flour 2 tbsp
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- ¼ tsp Sea salt
Misc
- 1 Egg yolk
- 2 tbsp Turbinado/Demerera Sugar
Salted Caramel
- 200 g Granulated sugar 1 cup
- 120 g Water ½ cup
- 120 g Heavy cream ½ cup, room temperature
- 56 g Unsalted butter 4 tbsp, room temperature
- ½ tsp Vanilla
- pinch Flaky sea salt
Instructions
- Take your butter and cut it into about ½" pieces. Place in a small bowl and put in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.113 g Unsalted butter
- Mix together flour and salt in a medium-large bowl.200 g AP Flour | 5 g Salt
- Dump frozen butter into flour mixture. Using a pastry cutter, cut butter into flour until it is about pea size bits.
- Add 1 tbsp of vodka and 4 tbsp of ice water. Mix until dough comes together, adding extra tbsp of water if needed. Dough should come together but not be wet.1 tbsp Vodka | 4-5 tbsp Ice water
- Pat dough into a 4-6" disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
- Right before you take your dough out of the refrigerator, peel and slice your apples.600 g Apples
- Place apples in a bowl, and add brown sugar, cinnamon, flour, salt and mix, coating the apples. Set aside.25 g Dark brown Sugar | 15 g AP flour | 1 tsp Cinnamon | ¼ tsp Sea salt
- Take your dough out and let sit for about 10 minutes.
- Lightly flour a sheet of parchment. Roll dough out on the parchment until about â…›" thick. Dough should be mostly round but does not need to be perfect.
- Place parchment with dough onto a rimmed baking sheet.
- Place apples onto the center of dough and spread into an even layer, leaving about a 1-2" border around the edges. This can be done decoratively or not just make sure there are no big spots with tons of apples.
- Take a piece of the edge and fold over, towards the center. Take the section next to it and repeat around until your galette has a crust.
- Chill your galette in the freezer for about 30 minutes before baking.
- Preheat oven to 350°F
- Remove your galette from the freezer. Brush the crust with beaten egg yolk, and sprinkle with demerera/turbinado sugar.1 Egg yolk | 2 tbsp Turbinado/Demerera Sugar
- Bake on center rack of oven for about 40-50 minutes, until crust is golden brown.
- While your galette is baking, make your salted caramel sauce.Pour water and sugar into a pot and whisk together.200 g Granulated sugar | 120 g Water
- Place the pot over medium-high heat until the sugar dissolves and comes to a low boil. Once dissolved, reduce heat to medium.
- Let the sugar simmer/low boil without stirring. After the water cooks off, the sugar syrup will begin to caramelize. You want it to become a golden amber color, which should take 15 minutes or so.
- When the sugar has reached the right color, reduce heat to low. Carefully and slowly pour in the cream and constantly whisk while doing so. The pan will bubble up a lot and it will be very hot – keep whisking and pour slowly.120 g Heavy cream
- After all the cream is in, keep whisking the mixture for about one minute on low heat until it has mostly come back together.
- Remove your pot from heat and add your butter and vanilla and whisk in.56 g Unsalted butter | ½ tsp Vanilla
- Once your butter has melted in, add your pinch (or two) of flaky sea salt, stir in and then pour your caramel into a jar or bowl.pinch Flaky sea salt
- Let caramel cool while your galette cooks. Extra caramel not used on the galette can be kept in the refrigerator in a jar for about 1-2 weeks and in the freezer for a few months.
- Remove galette from oven and allow to cool for about 1 hour. This will allow any juice or moisture to thicken. Warm caramel can be poured over the galette after it's been out of the oven for 20-30 minutes or it can be added when served. Serve room temperature or warmed, excellent with vanilla ice cream. Store any leftover, covered in refrigerator for up to 3 days. Enjoy!
