Apple Galette with Brown Butter

Love apple pie? This apple galette is made with spiced brown butter and is an easy and delicious make-ahead dessert.

A few weeks ago, my friend Melanie sent me a recipe for spiced brown-butter apples, and I couldn't stop thinking about them.

I could almost smell the apples when I read the recipe-- nutty, fragrant brown butter infused with Chinese five-spice, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

And while these apples would no doubt be delicious on their own, I knew that they'd be absolute perfection inside an apple galette.

Want more apple desserts? Try this vegan apple pie, vegan apple crostata with puff pastry and these apple puff pastry tartlets.

What is a galette?

A galette is a lazy man's pie.

It's actually a cross between a pie and a tart.

A galette is, in my opinion, the easiest of all pies (and tarts).

Simply fill a piece of pie dough with your favorite pie filling, wrap the dough along the edges around the filling (like a little pie present), and bake.

What Kind of Apples Should I Use?

I like to use a mixture of both sweet and tart apples.

The apple galette in the photos has a mixture of Fuji, Granny Smith, and Honeycrisp apples.

What Is Five-Spice (And Can I Skip It?)

Chinese five-spice is a spice blend made from warming winter spices like cinnamon, clove, star anise, fennel, and peppercorn.

Look for it along with the spice mixtures at your regular grocery store. I've seen five-spice powder at both Kroger and Whole Foods.

You can also buy five-spice powder online.

Can't find five-spice powder? Swap it for ground clove.

Can I Use Vegan Butter?

You sure can!

Whether or not the vegan butter browns will depend on the type of vegan butter you use.

If you want to try a vegan butter that browns, I recommend Miyoko's vegan butter because it will actually brown (even if it takes a little longer to brown than dairy butter).

That said, you could definitely use vegan butter that doesn't brown, but the apple galette will taste a little bit different than with dairy butter.

Want to make this a vegan apple galette? Use vegan butter, swap the egg for non-dairy milk, and make sure you're using a vegan pie dough.

I Burned my Brown butter, What now?

Toss the butter and start over.

When you're making brown butter, it's always better to slightly under-brown it than to over-brown it.

If your butter is black not brown, or smells burnt, toss it and start over.

How to Make An Apple Galette with Brown Butter

Start by making brown butter.

Heat the butter in a small pan, and watch it carefully. The butter will foam up, and then the foam will subside.

The butter will begin to brown and will start to smell delicious and nutty. Take it off the heat immediately.

Add the spices and stir.

Add lemon juice and brown sugar, and stir again.

Add quartered apples to a baking dish or large cast-iron pan.

Pour the spiced brown butter over the apples, and bake until the apples are tender.

Roll out a piece of pie dough.

You can use homemade pie dough if you prefer, but I used store-bought dough.

Add the baked apples to the center of the dough, leaving a border around the apples.

If any of the apples are falling apart, make sure to scoop any of the apple pieces onto the pie.

Drizzle some brown butter from the baking dish over the apples.

Wrap the dough around the apples, smoothing out any creases with your fingers.

Brush the dough with a beaten egg (or non-dairy milk), and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake until golden.

Let the apple galette sit at room temperature until the filling sets.

Serve this apple galette on a crisp fall evening along with a scoop of ice cream and a hot cup of apple cider.

Want more galette recipes? Try a plum galette, blueberry galette, and a savory butternut squash galette with a bourbon drizzle!