Peach galette tart recipe for summer dessert

You can make this simple, beautiful peach and blueberry galette with homemade crust and fresh fruit — or you can buy a quite decent ready-made crust and flash frozen peaches at your grocery store. Either way, you end up with a gorgeous, free-form tart that can be served as is, or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Peach and Blueberry Galette

1 9-inch pie crust (either the recipe below, or a rolled, ready-to-bake crust)

2 pounds peach slices; frozen and thawed or fresh

1 cup blueberries

1/2 cup sugar (or more, as needed)

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1 large egg, lightly beaten (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Coat a large sheet pan with cooking spray (or line it with parchment and spray the parchment).

2. Toss the peaches, blueberries, sugar, flour and extract in a bowl.

3. Lightly flour your work surface, and roll the dough into a 14-inch diameter circle. Carefully drape the dough over the rolling pin to transfer it to the prepared sheet pan. Don't worry if the dough hangs over the edge of the pan a bit. (If you get a small tear or two, squeeze the dough back together with lightly dampened finger tips.)

4. Fill the dough with an even layer of the fruit (don’t let it dome in the center), leaving a 3-inch border all around the edge clear.

5. Fold the edges of the dough up and over the fruit, pleating it as you go. Brush the egg over the crust (not the fruit) if desired: this adds a lovely gloss to the crust. Place in the center of the oven and bake 30 to 32 minutes, until the crust is golden and the fruit fork tender. Cool 5 to 10 minutes before cutting into wedges.

Flaky Crust

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small bits

3 tablespoons cold vegetable shortening

3 1/2 — 4 tablespoons ice water

1. Combine the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of the food processor. Add the butter and shortening and pulse the machine until the mixture is coarse crumbs. With the machine running, slowly add in about 3 tablespoons of the water, then add the remaining 1/2 to 1 tablespoon until the dough just pulls away from the sides and forms a ball.

2. Place the dough on a sheet of plastic wrap, form it into a 4-inch diameter disk. Wrap the dough and refrigerate at least 1 hour.