Gallet De Rois

During the month of January if you are in France you will surely notice the blossoming of galettes des rois in the window of every bakery and pastry shop. This puff pastry it is the traditional confection with which Epiphany is celebrated.

Epiphany while theoretically celebrated on January sixth is extended to the whole month of January.

All the better for me I tell you, as I am lucky enough to have been given the chance to eat this delicious creation twice at home, once at school and yet again once at a Rotary meeting.

And while there are a certain number of filling variations to this dessert, such as apple butter, chocolate apple or chocolate pear filling my favorite (also highest selling) galette is the kind filled with frangipane.

Frangipane a filling that is normally made of butter, sugar, eggs and ground almonds. Or in other words pure deliciousness.

Then there is also the detail of the all important figurine, la fève, which can represent anything from a car to a cartoon character and is hidden in the cake.

The person who finds the trinket in their slice becomes king for the day J

Originally, la fève was literally a broad bean (fève), but it was replaced in 1870 by a variety of figurines out of porcelain.

Yes porcelain! Lawsuits and suing are less common practices here. Although this does make it so that otherwise fast eaters (like my host brother) take there time so not to accidentally break a tooth or two.  I have noticed that these figurines have become popular collectibles.

I mean I even saw that one of the local bakeries offered a specialized line of fèves depicting great works of art and yet another that offered popular cartoon characters. 

Lastly the last thing that is always included is a paper crown. This crown is meant to crown the "king" who finds the fève in their piece of cake.

But let’s not forget that to ensure a random distribution of the cake shares, it is traditional for the youngest person to place themselves under the table and name the recipient of the share which is indicated by the person in charge of the service.

This is what makes me laugh because my host brother Adonis is always anxious during the length of the meal because he takes his role as cake namer seriously.

Because I know if you are reading this I sadly cant offer you a piece I will leave you with

a recipe that looked simple enough so maybe (if you are feeling inspired) you can try to make your own.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/galette-des-rois/

* just a side note this recipe is an American recipe using American ingredients therefore it wont be exactly the same thing.

(It is also is more complicated and expensive L