Every year about this time I start to see beautiful photos of rustic galettes pop up across the digital food world. Their simple, unassuming yet elegant form is the perfect way to highlight the natural flavors of fresh summer fruit. You don’t have to doll up a galette, just let the glory of fresh fruit do all the work. But want to know a little secret? You can make amazing galettes any time of year using frozen fruit, like this Blueberry Cream Cheese Galette!
What is a Galette?
A galette is a flat, free-form (no pan) pie or tart that can be made sweet or savory. They’re quite rustic, have very simplistic fillings, and don’t require any fancy bakeware, which makes them perfect for beginners.
Sweeten to Taste
My Lemon Blueberry Cream Cheese Galette is not super sweet. I tend to like fattier flavors over sweet when it comes to dessert, so I went light on the sugar. If you prefer a lot of sweetness, you can double the sugar in the dough and the cream cheese mixture.
Lemon Blueberry Cream Cheese Galette
Servings 6Ingredients
GALETTE CRUST*
- 1.5 cups flour (plus some for dusting) ($0.09)
- 1 tsp sugar ($0.02)
- Pinch salt ($0.01)
- 8 Tbsp cold butter ($1.07)
- 3 Tbsp ice water ($0.00)
LEMON BLUEBERRY FILLING
- 1/2 lb. blueberries (frozen or fresh) ($1.80)
- 1 Tbsp sugar ($0.02)
- 1 tsp cornstarch ($0.02)
- 1 fresh lemon ($0.75)
CREAM CHEESE FILLING
- 4 oz cream cheese, room temperature ($0.75)
- 2 tsp sugar ($0.04)
- 1 large egg, separated ($0.26)
Instructions
- To prepare the galette crust, combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Cut the cold butter into chunks and add it to the flour and salt. Use a pastry cutter or your hands to work the butter into the flour until the flour looks like damp sand with some pea-sized pieces of butter.
- Begin adding ice water, one tablespoon at a time, until a dough forms and no dry flour remains on the bottom of the bowl. Shape the dough into a flattened disc, wrap it in plastic, and refrigerate for one hour or until solid.
- While the dough is refrigerating, combine the blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, 1/2 tsp of zest and 1 Tbsp of juice from the lemon. Stir them together well and set the mixture aside.
- In a separate bowl, combine the room temperature cream cheese, sugar, egg yolk, and 1 tsp juice from the lemon until it forms a smooth mixture. Save the egg white to brush over the crust just before baking.
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Lightly flour a clean work surface. Take the dough out of the refrigerator and roll it into a 14-16 inch circle. The dough may seem a little stiff at first, but it will become more pliable as it warms. Make sure to keep your work surface dusted with flour as you roll to keep the dough from sticking.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment. Transfer the rolled dough onto the parchment (you can either roll or fold the dough to transfer without ripping). Spread the cream cheese mixture over the center of the circle, leaving about 2-inches of bare dough around the outside edge. I like to leave a higher “lip” on the outer edge of the cream cheese to help hold in the berries and their juice.
- Stir the blueberries one last time and pour them over the cream cheese, including all of the juice from the bowl. Begin folding up the sides of the dough over the cream cheese and berries, leaving the center open.
- Whisk the reserved egg white with a fork, using a drop or two of water to make it more fluid, if needed. Brush the egg white over the surface of the galette dough.
- Bake the galette for 30 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown. Let the galette sit for 10 minutes before slicing into six pieces and serving.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
Love blueberries? Try these other blueberry dishes: Lemon Blueberry Scones, Blueberry Buttermilk Coffee Cake, Blueberry Banana Baked Oatmeal, No Sugar Added Blueberry Almond Overnight Oats.
How to Make a Lemon Blueberry Galette – Step by Step Photos
Start by making the crust for the galette because it needs to refrigerate for about an hour. This is really just a basic pie dough recipe and you can feel free to use your favorite pie dough recipe. To begin, stir together 1.5 cups flour with 1 tsp sugar and a pinch of salt. Then add 8 Tbsp very cold butter, cut into small chunks (these are 1/2 Tbsp chunks).
Use a pastry cutter (affiliate link) or your hands to work the butter into the flour until it kind of looks like damp sand with some larger pea-sized pieces of butter. Those larger pieces of butter are what will create a nice delicate, flakey texture in the baked crust.
Begin adding ice water to the mixture, one tablespoon at a time, until it comes together and forms a dough with no dry flour left on the bottom of the bowl. Shape the dough into a flattened disc, wrap it in plastic, and refrigerate for one hour or until it is solid. Gotta keep that butter cold!
While the dough is refrigerating, combine 1/2 lb. blueberries (frozen or fresh), with 1 Tbsp sugar, 1 tsp cornstarch, about 1/2 tsp fresh lemon zest, and 1 Tbsp of fresh lemon juice (you’ll use more of the lemon juice in the cream cheese mixture). Stir those ingredients together and set them aside.
To make the cream cheese filling, combine 4 oz. room temperature cream cheese, one large egg yolk (save the whites to brush on the galette before baking), 2 tsp sugar, and 1 tsp of the fresh lemon juice.
Mix those together until smooth.
When the galette dough is fully chilled, it’s time to assemble. Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Lightly flour a clean work surface and roll the dough out to a 14-16 inch circle. Make sure to dust the work surface as you go to keep it from sticking. It will become more pliable as it’s rolled out. If it begins to crack around the edges, just use your fingers to pinch it back together. Place the rolled out dough on a parchment lined baking sheet. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the center, leaving about 2 inches of dough bare around the outside. I like to leave a higher “lip” of the cream cheese mixture around the outside to help hold in the berries and their juices.
Stir the blueberry mixture again and then pour it on top of the cream cheese. Make sure to add all the juices. They will run slightly, but that’s okay.
Begin to fold in the bare dough toward the center, leaving the middle open and uncovered.
Lighly whisk the reserved egg white, using a drop or two of water to help make it fluid if needed. Brush the egg whites over the surface of the dough.
Bake the galette for about 30 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown. The total cooking time will depend on how thinly the crust was rolled out, so just keep an eye on it. Let the galette sit for about 10 minutes before slicing and serving. You can garnish with any leftover lemon zest.
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I have whipped cream cheese. Will that work?
Hmmmm, good question, Barb! We only used brick cream cheese when testing, so I can’t tell you with certainty. I think it’s worth a try, though! I don’t think the result would be tooooo different.
Okay. Thank you and one more question, could I use ricotta instead of cream cheese? Might be too runny. What do you think? Block cream cheese is difficult for me to use up. So, if I could use ricotta I could use it with pasta, etc.
I do think it would be too wet! I wouldn’t want your crust to get soggy. A lot of our creamy pastas use cream cheese so maybe you could use it up that way!
About how many cups is 1/2lb of blueberries?
About a cup and a half, give or take depending on how large your blueberries are. :)
How would you make this savory? Will be making this later today.
Hi Becky, unsure what you are asking as this is a dessert recipe. If you want to add rosemary to the dough that would make it more savory, but it’s still a dessert.
The family enjoyed it. Fast and easy to pull together. But the total cost worked out to about $9.00 Canadian for a small pie. Don’t consider this a budget dessert.
I’ve made this several times and it always turns out well! It is great with both fresh or frozen blueberries. It is a big hit in my family.
this galette looks amazing!! I can’t wait to try it! don’t have a lemon so I wonder if the spice lemon zest in a bottle would work and bottles lemon juice… sounds awesome! thank you for sharing!!!! so inspiring!
Hi Tara, we haven’t tested it with either of those ingredients, but you should try it! XOXO -Monti
Do you thaw frozen berries? And can you sub puff pastry?
I did not thaw my berries first. :) I have not tried this with puff pastry, so I’m not sure how that would turn out.
Seriously, how does Beth take recipes that seem intimidating and make me a successful cook on my first go? I’d never made a pie before, let alone a fancy gallette. But this came out beautifully and was so delicious!
I’m so glad that it was such a success for you, Alison! :)
Do you think it would be ok without the egg?
Yep, you can skip the egg. The egg just makes the pastry a little glossy and helps it get nice and golden brown.
Super tasty and easy to make, but looks professional. Anyone can make it, but a food processor helps.
I have never made a pie or galette and have always been intimated by them. But this turned out AMAZING. I had some left over macerated peaches in my freezer, and did a half peach half blueberry combo for the filling. I also used a cinnamon flavouring instead of lemon. Server with some whipped cream because I love fat.
I made this today. Instead of making the crust, I used the premade pie crusts. I simply unrolled 1 crust to about 2″bigger. I then unrolled the second crust and put it on top of the other crust and rolled the 2 together. Worked great. Saves time and bakes great
I made this for my brother-in-law’s birthday because he loves blueberries and it was a definite hit! Thank you for this delicious, simple recipe. I am not an expert with pastry crusts, but this one turned out beautifully.
I added an extra teaspoon of sugar to the crust and an extra tablespoon of sugar to the blueberry mixture.
I also rolled out the dough on the parchment, so I would not have to transfer the dough. Then I wiped away the excess flour before baking.
Thanks again for this wonderful dessert!