Rustic Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake Galette
Chocolate and Peanut Butter is the most magical combination ever created. If there’s a dessert on the menu that contains those two ingredients, I’M ALL IN with two spoons - one in each hand. You can get your own. What’s that? This picture is NOT chocolate OR peanut butter? Well, you’re not wrong. But turns out I am! Cuz there’s another perfect pair in the Sweetisphere that I didn’t even know existed and it may be, almost, basically, quite possibly, just nearly as mind blowing as the legendary C&PB combo: INTRODUCING Blueberry and Lemon Cheesecake. Whaaaaaaaat?
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I know, I know. It hit me hard, too. It came me last month when I baked that Baby Dutch Pancake and accidentally on purpose flavor blended the lemon curd and blueberry compote dipping sauces. On their own, they were delicious. Together, it was LIGHTS OUT.
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Which is how this Rustic Blueberry Lemon Cream Cheese Galette wound up on the menu for my Shavout-themed zoom baking class with the UJA Westchester. A creamy, lemony, jammy filling enrobed in a flaky, buttery crust dusted with demerara sugar. YES, PLEASE! We took half the test run pictured above down in one sitting, and I’m literally counting the hours until we get round two tomorrow.
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The keyword here is RUSTIC. That means, embrace the uneven dough shape, the runny blueberry juices and the potential overflow onto the sheet tray. Nobody is perfect, and neither is this galette. No one will notice once its all covered in a scoop of vanilla ice cream anyway!
Rustic Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake Galette
Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) of COLD unsalted butter
- ½ cup ice water
- 8oz block of cream cheese, room temperature
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- Zest from 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 egg yolk only
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (I like frozen best!)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 ½ teaspoons cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 egg, whisked
- 2 teaspoons demerara sugar, or sanding sugar (optional)
- vanilla ice cream, for serving
Instructions:
- Mix flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Cut COLD butter into ½” cubes. Incorporate the butter into the flour by pressing it between your fingertips until it resembles wet sand with some pea-sized pieces of butter. Add ½ cup of ice cold water to the bowl and press together, using your hands, until a dough ball forms by kneading it against the sides of the bowl.
- Generously flour a cold, hard surface (like your countertop) and place the dough ball on top. Flour the top of the ball, as well. Using a rolling pin, start rolling the dough out until it’s about 12” in diameter and ¼” thick. The shape doesn’t really matter at this point. Fold both sides of the dough in towards the center to meet in the middle. Then fold in half again like a book, giving it 4 layers of dough. Now, fold the top third down and the bottom third up. Your dough should be a thick, small block. These layers upon layers of dough and butter are going to guarantee you a light and flaky crust. Transfer the dough block to a plate, cover with saran and place in the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours. If you are short on time, place it in the freezer for no more than 30 minutes while you make the Lemon Cream Cheese filling and Blueberry Compote.
- Place all ingredients in a bowl and whisk until mixture is well incorporated with a smooth consistency.
- In a large saucepan, combine all ingredients, mix well and simmer briefly just to emulsify, for about 1 minute.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a sheet tray with parchment paper.
- Remove dough from the refrigerator and place back on a well-floured surface. Roll out into an even 12-14” round. Transfer to the parchment-lined sheet tray. Spread the Lemon Cream Cheese filling evenly in the center of the dough, leaving a 2” border of bare dough around the outside edge. I like to leave a slightly higher "lip" on the outer edge of the cream cheese to help hold in the berries. Spoon the berries over the cream cheese filling. I use a slotted spoon to avoid having too much blueberry juice overflow.
- Begin folding up the sides of the dough over the cream cheese and berries, tugging and pressing gently so the edge of each segment tightly overlaps the one that came before. Brush lightly with egg wash and a dusting of demerara sugar.
- Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove and let cool for 30 minutes before topping with ice cream and digging in!