Strawberry Chocolate Galettes (Vegan Gluten-Free)

A rough-form homemade pastry filled with juicy strawberries and melting chocolate topped with dairy-free ice cream. This makes a quick and easy dessert for friends and family that is vegan, easily gluten-free and nut-free.

I love making desserts for guests and tarts and pies are always a great option when you want to impress but also want something nostalgic, cosy and familiar. From sticky cinnamon apple galettes to nectarine and blueberry ones, I do love a good galette.

Why?

They are so much easier than pie or tarts! Make the pastry, chill the dough, roll it out, fill the centre and fold in the edges. That is the very essence of a galette, or I suppose a crostata, if you are thinking in Italian (although that also means tart, so that could get confusing…).

Let’s stick to calling these pastry desserts, galettes. You can’t really go wrong. You don’t need to worry about rolling it out to a certain size or being too neat and precise, these Strawberry Chocolate Galettes look better when they are slightly more rustic. So, I hope you will agree that while these look impressive they are not intimidating to make. These galettes are:

• Easy to make and to serve
• Delicious
• Bursting with juicy strawberries
• Oozing with melting chunks of chocolate
• A great dessert served warm or cold
• A real crowd-pleaser
• A great choice for picnics, BBQs, inside meals and gatherings
• Crispy, golden and crunchy outside 
• Tender, gooey, and soft inside

What makes these Strawberry Chocolate Galettes so special? Well, I have mentioned how easy they are, but they also combine two of the best flavours: strawberries and chocolate. Think of those two together encased in a golden sweet pastry all dripping with slowly melting vanilla ice cream…

Like the method, the ingredient list is just as simple (and you can even cheat by using shop-bough shortcrust pastry, too, if you like):

• Plain flour: this keeps the pastry light and crisp. I can imagine a GF blend with xantham gum would also work and you may need to add extra liquid. Also, you could use wholemeal or spelt flour for a more wholesome pastry.
• Coconut sugar: just a little to make this pastry golden and slightly sweet. This is my favourite sugar but you can also use a light brown or caster sugar.
• Cold butter: it’s important that the butter is cold to keep the pastry crisp and help it retain shape. There are a few brands in the UK now that are so good so choose your favourite vegan alternative.
• Cold water: again, the temperature is important for the texture and magic of the pastry.

Using the traditional rubbing in method where you rub the butter into the flour to form breadcrumbs and then bring the crumbs to a dough with the water. Roll into a ball and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. Then onto the fun part – filling the pastries.

Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces and fill them with the strawberry filling, making sure to leave a border around the edges. Sprinkle over the chocolate and then use the excess pastry border to fold inwards to create the pastry edge. You don’t need to be too neat here. Just keep folding your way round each galette, crimping, and folding as necessary and avoiding any gaps or cracks which would allow the filling to leak.

For the filling, you need:

• Strawberries: or you can use another berry like blueberries or raspberries.
• Coconut sugar: just a little for the texture and sweetness. You can use another sugar like light brown or caster sugar, too.
• Cornstarch: or arrowroot powder works in the same way to thicken the filling to make it gooey and sticky without being too wet and preventing the pastry from baking.
• Chocolate: any chocolate will work a treat although the darker the better, in my opinion.

Now you have your Strawberry Chocolate Galettes ready to go, brush with a little milk, sprinkle over some sugar and bake until smelling amazing. They will be bubbling and hot in the middle and golden and crisp around the edges. Allow to cool to enjoy cold later or enjoy hot straight away with your favourite ice cream, cream or yoghurt.

If you have leftovers (it’s a big IF as they disappear very quickly!) you can keep them in the fridge for 2-3 days or even freeze them for another day. You will be very happy with yourself to find one of these Strawberry Chocolate Galettes lurking in the freezer.

If you are looking for more delicious desserts, how about my:

• Strawberry Mince Pie Tart
• Banana Chocolate Chip Scones
• Strawberry and Rhubarb Custard Tart
• Strawberry Cheesecake Bars
• Chocolate Cream Tart

I look forward to hearing what you think of these Strawberry Chocolate Galettes so please let me know in the comments below. If you make these galettes, please tag me in your bakes as I love to see them – I’m @nourishing.amy on Instagram and use the hashtag #nourishingamy. I’m also on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest  – please say hello!

With strawberry chocolate galettes of love x