Cranberry Lime Galette

Le sigh. Holidays are over. Good thing champagne is available year-round.

And while the holidays have passed, I have a few recipes that I wanted to post.  Perhaps by posting them, it will bring back a little holiday cheer.  Dammit no it won't, I'm going to go off and cry.

Anyway.  One of my favorite holiday desserts is a cranberry lime galette from Dorie Greenspan (scroll to bottom of linked page for recipe).  It's got cranberry, which is red, and lime, which is green--red and green, how festive! Plus cranberries scream holidays. A silent, wailing scream.

First, you make the crust (or buy it).  I keep posting about crusts, don't I.  I'm sorry.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) very cold (or frozen) cut into 1/2" pieces
• 2 1/2 tablespoons very cold (frozen is even better) vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces
• About 1/4 cup ice water

You can also do this in a food processor, instructions for which are on the linked page.  Me? I don't have a dishwasher.  You may ask how this relates.  Well, I don't particularly like washing my food processor by hand because I have a valid fear of slicing myself.  So when I make crusts, I used my hands.

Mix together the flour, sugar and salt in a medium bowl. 

Add the butter and shortening.

Mix together quickly and lightly with your fingers, by kind of rubbing the dry ingredients and fat along your fingers.  Oh never mind that doesn't make sense.  What I do is kind of cup my hands, palms facing up, and scoop up a bit of flour with some fat chunks.  Then I take my thumbs and run them along my fingers, starting with my pinkies and then moving up towards the pointer finger.  Kind of like I'm straining the flour and fat through my fingers to get them to mix.  It makes more sense in person.

However you mix, do it until the bits of fat are about the size of small peas.

Drizzle in 3 TBS of ice water.  Mix until just combined, and when the dough holds together when you squeeze some in your hand.  Add a TBS of water at a time, if necessary, to get to the right consistency.

Gather dough in plastic wrap.  If you're worried that your dough is a bit too dry, which I usually am, slide your palm across the dough once or twice to incorporate a bit.

Flatten into a disk and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Roll out dough into about a 13" diameter circle.  I've noticed that Dorie's doughs tend to be pretty soft because of all of the fat.  So she recommends rolling out the dough between two pieces of floured parchment paper, which I highly recommend.   When you get to the desired size, peel off one parchment paper, and use the other to help slide the dough onto a baking sheet.  Refrigerate while you make the filling.

Now for the filling.

• 3 tablespoons ground nuts (walnuts, almonds, pecans or skinned hazelnuts)
• 3 tablespoons dry bread crumbs
• 2 cups cranberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, thaw and pat dry)
• 1/3 cup moist, plump dried cranberries (optional)
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 1/2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• Grated zest of 1 lime
• Juice of 1/2 lime (depending on the size of your lime--mine were pretty juicy and so the galette ended up being quite tart)
  
• 1 medium apple, peeled, cored and cut into 1/2-inch chunks (this actually ended up being a lot, and I thought it took away from the cranberry look of the galette, so I will cut down next time) 
• 3 tablespoons raspberry jam or jelly (I completely forgot this, which is too bad because it adds an extra bit of sweetness to a rather puckerish dessert (and I like really tart things))
  
• Decorating (coarse) or granulated sugar, for dusting
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting (I didn't do this)
  

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix together ground nuts and breadcrumbs.

In a medium bowl, combine the cranberries, dried cranberries (if using), brown sugar, lime zest, lime juice, and apple.

Belatedly realize you forgot the ginger, so add that in also.

Remove dough from refrigerator.  Spread the nut-crumb mixture on the dough, leaving a 2-inch perimeter at the edges.

Mound filling in the center of the dough, again honoring the integrity of your precious 2-inch border.  Gently fold edges up and over filling.  The dough will pleat. A little tearing is okay, just kinda pinch the suckers back together.

Sprinkle sugar over the crust.

Place in oven and bake 35 to 40 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and mixture is bubbling.

Ta-da!