This apple cheddar galette has a flaky pie crust filled with sharp cheddar cheese, caramelized onions, and sweet apples! It's super easy to make and the perfect sweet and savory fall dessert!
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What is a Galette?
A galette is a French tart that’s essentially a free-form pie. Galettes can be either sweet or savory! [Also called a crostata in Italian!]
The best thing about galettes vs traditional pies is that they're super easy to make and meant to look rustic and imperfect! To make a galette, you just make circles of pie dough, pile your filling into the center, and fold the edges over to hold it together. That's it!
So you might also like this peach galette or this honeynut squash galette!
Ingredient Notes
You just need a few ingredients to make this apple cheddar galette!
Pie Crust - I use my homemade buttery pie crust recipe for this apple cheddar tart! But you can use store-bought crust or your own homemade crust if desired.
Apples - You need 3-4 large apples for this tart. I recommend firm apples that will hold their shape - think the same kind of apples you'd use for apple pie! My favorites are Granny Smith, honey crisp, cosmic crisp, pink lady, or Braeburn!
Cheddar Cheese - I prefer the tang of a sharp white cheddar but you can use medium cheddar for a more neutral flavor. You can also substitute gruyere or gouda!
Caramelized Onions - This is optional but I love adding some homemade caramelized onions to the tart! It adds just the right amount of savory sweetness.
The complete list of ingredients and amounts is located in the recipe card below.
Cheddar Pie Crust
For more tips and tricks on how to make perfect flaky pie crust, check out this post!
Cut butter into small cubes and place in the fridge to firm up while you get the rest of your ingredients together.
In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, shredded cheddar cheese, and salt. Add in the cold butter and use your hands to press it into the flour mixture until you get quarter sized crumbs.
Add cold water and combine until dough forms a nice ball but is still slightly sticky.
Take the formed ball of dough and shape into slightly flattened disk.
Wrap the disk in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. This is important to keep the butter from melting so that the crust will be nice and flaky. The chilled dough is also much easier to work with for rolling out.
You can also make the pie dough up to 2 days in advance and store in the fridge until ready to use!
How to Make a Savory Galette
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Cut the apples into thin slices and set aside.
Lightly flour a clean surface. Roll out pie dough into a large rectangle, about ¼ inch thick and roughly 14x10 inches [you can also make a classic round galette and just roll into a large circle about 12 inches across]. If you want a cleaner looking galette, you can use a knife to trim the edges of dough but it's not necessary.
Place the dough on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Spread the shredded cheddar cheese over the pie dough, leaving about an inch around the edges. Then dot the caramelized onions over the cheese.
Arrange the thinly sliced apples over top of the cheese and sprinkle with granulated sugar and fresh thyme.
Then gently fold over the edges of the dough.
Brush the edges lightly with egg wash and sprinkle with a little granulated sugar if desired.
Bake at 400°F for 35-45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
Remove from the oven and let the apple cheddar galette rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Cut into squares and serve warm!
Tips for Flaky Pastries
Use cold ingredients! For most baked goods you want to use room temperature ingredients, but for flaky pastries (like scones, biscuits, or pie crust) the ingredients need to be very cold! Keep any butter, eggs, milk, etc. in the fridge until right before you need to use them!
Chill before baking! Chilling the dough for at least 15-20 minutes before baking helps ensure the butter in the dough is nice and cold and helps the pastries hold their shape. Cold dough + hot oven = perfect flaky pastry!
Don't overwork the dough! You want to mix the ingredients until just combined so that there are still distinct pieces of butter in the dough. This is what gives you those buttery, flaky, air pockets!
Measure your flour correctly! It's most accurate to use a kitchen scale, but if you're measuring by volume you want to spoon and level! Fluff up the flour a bit with a spoon, and then spoon flour into the measuring cup. Once it's overflowing, use the back of a knife to level it off. Don't ever pack flour into the measuring cup or you'll end up with way too much! Improperly measured flour can lead to dry, dense baked goods. [Measure cocoa powder the same way!]
Make sure you baking powder is fresh! Baking powder is important for helping certain baked goods rise properly, but it has a relatively short shelf life once opened, so it's one of the few items I never buy in bulk! To test if your baking powder is still fresh, add a small amount to boiling water. If it bubbles it's still good to use, but if not it's time to toss it!
Use an oven thermometer! Just because your oven says it's 350, doesn't mean it is! If you oven hasn't been calibrated recently, it can be as much as 30 degrees off, which will negatively affect all baked goods from cakes to macarons! An oven thermometer is the easiest/cheapest way to ensure your oven is always at the proper temperature. Some ovens also take longer than the standard "preheat" time to actually come up to the proper temperature.
Recipe FAQ's
This apple tart is best eaten the same day, but can be stored in the fridge for 2-3 days. You can serve it cold or warm it up in the oven at 350°F for about 5 minutes to crisp up the crust.
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
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Recipe Card
Apple Cheddar Galette
Special Equipment
Ingredients
Cheddar Pie Dough
- 1 cup pastry flour, substitute all purpose flour
- ½ cup sharp white cheddar cheese, shredded (optional)
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
- 2 tablespoons water, cold
- 1 large egg, beaten for egg wash
Apple Filling
- 1 cup sharp white cheddar cheese, shredded
- ½ cup caramelized onions, optional
- 3-4 apples, thinly sliced
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme
Instructions
Pie Dough
- For more tips and tricks on how to make perfect flaky pie crust, check out this post!
- Cut butter into small cubes and place in the fridge to firm up while you get the rest of your ingredients together.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, shredded cheddar cheese, and salt. Add in the cold butter and use your hands to press it into the flour mixture until you get quarter sized crumbs.
- Add cold water and combine until dough forms a nice ball but is still slightly sticky.
- Take the formed ball of dough and shape into slightly flattened disk.
- Wrap the disk in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. This is important to keep the butter from melting so that the crust will be nice and flaky. The chilled dough is also much easier to work with for rolling out.
- You can also make the pie dough up to 2 days in advance and store in the fridge until ready to use!
Apple Galette
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Cut the apples into thin slices and set aside.
- Lightly flour a clean surface. Roll out pie dough into a large rectangle, about ¼ inch thick and roughly 14x10 inches [you can also make a classic round galette and just roll into a large circle about 12 inches across]. If you want a cleaner looking galette, you can use a knife to trim the edges of dough but it's not necessary.
- Place the dough on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Spread the shredded cheddar cheese over the pie dough, leaving about an inch around the edges. Then dot the caramelized onions over the cheese.
- Arrange the thinly sliced apples over top of the cheese and sprinkle with granulated sugar and fresh thyme.
- Then gently fold over the edges of the dough.
- Brush the edges lightly with egg wash and sprinkle with a little granulated sugar if desired.
- Bake at 400°F for 35-45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and let the apple cheddar galette rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.
- Cut into squares and serve warm!
- This galette is best eaten the same day, but can be stored in the fridge for 2-3 days. You can serve it cold or warm it up in the oven at 350°F for about 5 minutes to crisp up the crust.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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