Galette des Rois

Sweets. That's what we need right now: another dessert especially for Epiphany. By the time January 6 arrives all the pre-Christmas and Christmas goodies will be gone, the party food from New Year's Eve will be a memory, and you'll be looking for one last treat for the season.

In France the Epiphany tradition is to enjoy a Galette des Rois (Cake of the Kings). There are two types of Galettes des Rois. One is made with a yeast batter and decorated with sugared fruit. The other is more pastry than cake: almond cream is sandwiched between two layers of puff pastry. In recent years, the traditional almond filling has been tweaked and experimented with and sometimes abandoned altogether, so fillings may vary from home to home and bakery to bakery. When presented for eating, the cake traditionally wears a foil or paper crown.

Like its cousin, the American Mardi Gras King Cake, a Galette des Rois includes a token of some kind or a bean baked into the cake. Whoever finds the token is declared king or queen for the day.

Recipes abound on the internet, so a quick search for "galette des rois" will provide many options, but if you want to be inspired by the Epiphany creations of a Paris patisserie, here are two:

Dalloyau:  http://www.dalloyau.fr/galette-coeur-de-dentelle.html

Dominique Saibron: http://www.dominique-saibron.com/english/actualite.html 

This is their pistachio galette.