Spiced pumpkin filling topped with lemony macerated apples, wrapped in flaky pie crust pastry and drizzled with a bourbon-maple sauce made from the remaining apple juices. You can use this recipe to either make four mini-galettes, or one larger galette. You choose! See notes at the bottom of the recipe for adjustments if you choose one larger galette.

Ingredients

1-2 Golden Delicious apples

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon white sugar, divided

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt (I prefer Diamond Crystal), divided (use half as much as indicated if using table salt)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon maple syrup, divided

1.5 teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice

1/4 teaspoon Organic Ground Mace

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons bourbon, divided

1 half-recipe of pate brisee pie crust pastry

1 tablespoon heavy cream

Flour for rolling out pastry

Instructions

1) Prep the apple slices: Core the apples and cut into 1/8” wedges with the skin on. Toss in a bowl with the lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of the white sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt. Set aside to macerate for about 30 minutes, while you work on the next steps. Note: when the apples are done macerating you’ll need to reserve the remaining juices to make the bourbon-maple sauce!

2) Make the spiced pumpkin filling: Warm 1 tablespoon of the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the pumpkin with 3 tablespoons of the maple syrup. Stir in the Pumpkin Pie Spice, mace and 1/4 teaspoon salt, along with the vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon of the bourbon. Let everything come to a simmer, then turn the heat to low and simmer partially covered for about 15 minutes. When done, transfer to a bowl to allow to cool a bit before using (should still be warm but not sizzling hot).

3) Roll the dough and assemble the galettes: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees with the rack in the middle position. Divide the half-batch of pate brisee into 4 equal pieces and roll each into a circle about 8-9” in diameter. Spread about 2-3 tablespoons of pumpkin mixture on each pastry circle, leaving a border of about 1.5 inches all around. (Note that you may not use all the pumpkin mixture.) Arrange 1/4 of the apple slices evenly over the pumpkin on each pastry circle, and reserve the accumulated juices to make the sauce in Step 5. Fold the edges of each galette up over the sides of the filling, leaving the center of the filling uncovered.

4) Bake the galettes: Transfer the galettes to a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet, and sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon of sugar over the pastry rim around each galette. Bake for 15-25 minutes, until the pastry is crisp and golden brown and the filling is hot.

5) Make the bourbon-maple sauce: While the galettes are baking, warm 1 tablespoon butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, until it begins to brown. Turn the heat to low, then stir in the reserved apple juices, followed by 2 tablespoons maple syrup and 2 tablespoons bourbon at room temperature. Adjust the heat as needed to gently simmer the sauce, stirring occasionally, for about 2-4 minutes, until the bubbles get larger and glossy, and the bottom of the pan is visible when you scrape it. Remove from heat and stir in 1 tablespoon heavy cream.

6) Finish and serve: Cool galettes briefly on a rack. Transfer the bourbon-maple sauce to a small bowl. Drizzle some of the sauce over each galette, and serve the remaining sauce with the galettes so your guests can can add more to their liking.

Notes:

This recipe has all the flavors of fall, wrapped in a flaky pie crust and drizzled with bourbon sauce. Bourbon, people!

Bourbon is the perfect pairing with fall ingredients. In some recipes it stands right up in front and waves its arms, as if to say “I’m here, Thanksgiving may begin now!” But not in this recipe. In this recipe it’s part of an ensemble cast. It’s a team player. The bourbon is sitting right between the between the maple and the pumpkin, chatting quietly with the apples. This is not bossy bourbon. This is bestie bourbon. (Aw.)

I created this recipe for my Spice Club members earlier this month, as a good way to show off our Pumpkin Pie Spice, and because I wanted to give them a Zoom class on pie. In my book, galettes are the best version of pie, and as everyone knows, pie is the best version of dessert.

The pumpkin filling in this recipe is pre-cooked in order to help the galette cook a bit faster. That richly spiced pumpkin base, with added depth from the maple and bourbon, forms a foundation against which those bright, lemony macerated apple slices can offer a playful counterpoint. Then you bring it all together with that sauce, and bam. Seriously.

The sauce starts with the juices accumulated while the apple slices are macerating. We can’t let that juicy goodness go to waste! A little brown butter, a little maple, a little more bourbon, a splash of cream, and you’ve got yourself a nice little sauce there.

Safety PSA: Your bourbon should be room temperature (not warm!) when you add it to the sauce! If you add warm bourbon to the hot sauce, it can ignite spontaneously. Flambe can be a fun party trick, but you really don’t want to be surprised by it. (During testing for this recipe, I had my bottle of bourbon sitting on top of the hot oven, and it suddenly ignited when I added it to the sauce. Hoo boy.)

The instructions above are to make four mini-galettes, because that’s what we did in the Spice Club class. But you can also use the same ingredients to make one full-size galette, which might work out nicely for something like Thanksgiving. To do this, roll the dough into one circle instead of four (obvs!). And you’ll also need to increase the baking time to roughly 25-40 minutes. Watch for the cues indicated in the recipe to know when it’s ready, and pay close attention to the center of the galette to be sure it’s cooked all the way through.

Recipes and ingredients used in this recipe: