Galette des rois au chocolat

There's a tradition in Luxembourg and the surrounding region of eating a 'galette des rois' on January 6th (the Catholic holiday of Epiphany). The focus is definitely on the pie-eating and not on religion. The dessert is generally called king's cake but that's because it is an actual cake everywhere except Northern France and Quebec.

Basically, a galette des rois is a big puff pastry with a frangipane (almond paste) filling, in which is hidden a fève. An actual fève (broad bean) was originally used, but nowadays bakeries sell special porcelain or plastic trinkets for the occasion. When the galette is served, the person who finds the fève in their slice is crowned the king (with a paper crown).

The first time I heard of this tradition was at work one year ago when we had a little office party to celebrate it. (That's one big plus of living abroad, getting to celebrate even MORE food-related traditions!) When my colleagues were talking about buying the pies for this year I offered to make one of them.

My chocolate-almond filling and a little porcelain owl fève 

 I looked up some recipes and quickly learned that many flavours exist, including chocolate. Great, because I don't like frangipane very much but I do like dark chocolate and almond! I stuck with buying pre-made pâte feuilletée (puff pastry) so all I had to do was melt and mix together the chocolate with the other ingredients, stick the fève in, put the pastry together and draw a design. Very easy and with a very attractive result! 

The etching before and after baking

Everyone ate up both galettes but funnily enough, with only 3 slices of the chocolate and 1 slice of the traditional galette left over once everyone was full, neither fève had yet been found! Too bad, no kings in my office this year...

The recipe I used is this one: Galette des rois au chocolat from Journal des Femmes.

Here's a quick English translation below:

Serves 8:

• 2 rolls of pâte à tarte feuilletée (puff pastry) 
• 180-200g of dessert chocolate (I used half dessert, half dark) 
• 125g almond powder
• 125g of caster sugar (or powdered) 
• 125g of soft butter 
• 2 eggs + 1 yolk 
• 1-2 tsp cinnamon 
• 1 fève (porcelain trinket) 

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C

2. Prepare the chocolate frangipane:
Break the chocolate into pieces and melt in a bain marie (in a glass bowl placed over a small pot of simmering water). Whisk the softened butter with the sugar until the mixture is smooth and fluffy. Mix in almond powder, melted chocolate, cinnamon and the 2 eggs.

3. Roll out one of the sheets of dough on a baking sheet, keeping the paper underneath. Prick a few holes in the dough. Spoon the chocolate mixture onto it and spread it out from the centre, leaving a border of a few centimetres.

4. Cover with the second sheet of dough. Press all around the edge with your fingers to stick the two sheets together, then fold it over to create a hem (fold on a diagonal for an edge like mine). Mark the edges with the tines of a fork.

5. Brush the egg yolk over the top and edges of the galette and then etch a design with the tip of a knife. Then prick the dough a few times all over to prevent it from puffing up during baking.

6. Bake for about 30 minutes, until golden brown and set.