Fun Sized Blueberry Galettes

On of the many things I love about teaching Cooking Class is that I have a great excuse to try new recipes. For example, I had never even dreamed of making pot stickers before Chinese New Year and they ended up being both delicious and fun to make. And, I had never, but always thought about making applesauce in a food mill...until I tried it with the kids in class. 

Now, if you google "blueberry recipes for kids", you will find a link to an article on babble.com called "25 Ways to Prepare In-Season Blueberries for Kids." I found this recipe for these easy, fun-sized blueberry galettes, and decided they would be perfect for Cooking Class...and besides, I had never made a galette before, so why not give it a whirl?!!! In the article, the author states: "There’s no shame in cheating with a package of frozen puff pastry dough...". Now, who doesn't like that idea? Also, Amy Porter, Sara Jo's mom (Orange Room) asked if she could volunteer to help me on Thursday. We had a great time and I welcome anyone to do the same! I am sure all the parents will be grateful for this highly photographed day in Cooking Class!

First, we cut out dough circles with a glass bowl!

Once everyone had their dough circle in front of them, I demonstrated the next 4 steps: Pinch, hold, brush, sprinkle. 

Each child got a mound of blueberry mixture and they were instructed to use all 10 of their fingers to pinch the dough and encase the blueberries. Then, they were asked to hold the dough together so that it would stick.

Then, they got to paint their galette with an egg wash.

Then, everyone sprinkled with course sugar.

Here is a tray that is ready for the oven.

These were eaten up quickly by some...and, not so much by others. The Blue Room rated it "2 thumbs up" and one fella from the Yellow Room did not want to leave the table or take his apron off until he got another one.

I love the use of fresh blueberries for this recipe. I would not recommend using frozen, as I think they would be too watery and make the dough soggy, among other things. The blueberry mixture contained sugar, cornstarch, salt, and fresh lemon juice. One student could taste the fresh lemon juice in the finished product and was excited to share this newfound discovery with his classmates! Also, we used a glass bowl to cut out our dough circles---I simply chose something that I had on hand.

While the kids ate their galette, I read "Blueberries for Sal" by Robert McCloskey. There were some intent listeners!

Quotes of the day:
"Mrs. Diana, I hope you hide that dough because me and my sister are dough attackers."
After explaining that the dough needs to stick together to hold the blueberries in, one student said in a very clever and entertaining way: "Its a sticky situation."

Fun-Sized Blueberry Galettes

1 pkg. puff pastry, thawed, or pastry for a single-crust pie
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
3 cups fresh blueberries
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
coarse sugar, for sprinkling (optional)

Put oven rack in the middle position and preheat to 425°F. Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with foil, parchment or a silpat mat.

In a small bowl, stir together the sugar and cornstarch to get rid of any lumps. In a large bowl, toss the berries, sugar-cornstarch mixture, lemon juice and salt.

Unwrap the puff pastry onto the sheet, or roll a thawed block of puff pastry (or regular pastry) out 1/4-inch thick. We used a small bowl to cut 6 circles out of each rolled flat puff pastry. (The puff pastry crusts come 2 in a box, so you will yield 12 galettes,--maybe 13 with the leftover crust--per box.) Cut into rounds about 2 inches in diameter larger than you want the finished galettes. Mound the blueberry mixture into the middle of each piece of dough, leaving an inch or so around the edge. Fold the edges over the filling, folding wherever it naturally folds and pinching with your fingers to enclose the berries. Remember, imperfect = rustic.

Brush the pastry with egg and sprinkle with sugar. Bake until golden, 20 minutes. If the pastry is browning too quickly, cover loosely with some foil. Cool for a few minutes before sliding out onto a cutting board to cut and serve. Serve warm, with whipped cream sweetened with maple syrup or vanilla ice cream. Serves 4-6.

**the original recipe has a 25-30 minute baking time, but we found that 20 minutes was quite sufficient. However, please keep in mind that oven temperatures can vary greatly, so just check them after 20 minutes to see if they are golden on top.

 A special thank you to Amy Porter for all your help. I hope more parents will join me to see how much fun we are having in Cooking Class! As a reminder: Red, Green and Orange Rooms have Cooking Class on Thursdays and Blue, Yellow and Purple Rooms have Cooking Class on Fridays.