Galette des rois light: the recipe by Nina Métayer

Every year, the Galette des Rois celebrates the beginning of January. As soon as you get out of the Christmas logs and Christmas chocolates, you immediately dive into the soft brioches and puff pastry of the frangipane. To enjoy the Epiphany by limiting excesses, the pastry chef Nina Metayer just unveiled a recipe for light king cake, made with 80% less sugar. What fun until the next arrival of Candlemas and piles of her pancakes.

Nina Métayer’s light galette recipe

Unveiled by the magazine Qui, the light frangipani recipe it retains its gourmand and crunchy side, accompanied by a sublime frangipane filling, composed of a mixture of custard and almond cream. For its light king cake, Nina Métayer replaces white sugar with brown sugar and uses only 20 grams. She also recommends adding barley syrup or a few drops of alcohol, such as rum or amaretto, to enhance the flavors in your device. “It’s the right ingredients that mean you really can’t miss a recipe… even if you don’t have the perfect talent!” the chef explains to the magazine.

For 8 people

• Ingredients for the puff pastry:

300 g AOP Charentes Poitou butter (to be added twice, first 240 g then 60 g)
100 g of spelled flour
250 g of T80 flour
100 g of water
8 g of salt
2.5 g of vinegar

• Ingredients for the custard:

140 g of milk
60 g of liquid cream
1 egg
20 g of brown sugar
12 g of corn starch
6 g of Charentes Poitou PDO butter

• Ingredients for the almond cream:

90 g of Charentes Poitou PDO butter
125 g of ground almonds
1.5 eggs
A pinch of fine salt

• Ingredients for the Almond Frangipani:

9 g of powdered cream
60 g of toasted almonds
10 g barley syrup or alcohol (amaretto, rum, cognac…)

Preparation :

For make puff pastry express, mix the pieces of very cold butter with all the ingredients. Roll out the dough to a uniform thickness and make a double turn by rolling out the dough to a thickness of 5 mm then folding it over itself to obtain 4 successive layers. Repeat the operation to obtain 3 double turns. Roll out the puff pastry to a thickness of 3.5 mm and cut out two circles.

For the custard, bring the cream and milk to a boil. Mix the eggs, cornstarch, flour and brown sugar. Pour the boiling liquid over the mixture and stir vigorously before pouring into the saucepan. Boil for 30 seconds. Add the butter. Reserve in a plate and cool quickly.

For the almond cream, cream the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of the planetary mixer. Add the ground almonds then the eggs and salt.

For the almond frangipane, toast the almonds for 40 minutes at 140°C then chop them coarsely. In the bowl of the planetary mixer, mix the custard, the almond cream, the powdered cream, the barley syrup (or alcohol) and the almonds.

To assemble, place a circle of puff pastry and then the frangipane in the centre. Don’t forget the bean! Moisten the edges with a brush and place the second round of puff pastry on top. Glaze the galette with the egg, taking care to decorate it with the tip of a knife. Bake at 160°C for 1 hour and adjust cooking if necessary.

Nina Métayer’s galettes des rois

Twice awarded pastry chef of the year in 2016 and 2017, Nina Métayer is now the head of her own Parisian pastry shop called Délicatisserie. She offers original and unusual creations, pastries, signature desserts and artistic pieces, just like her fine and gourmet cuisine.

For Epiphany 2023, the chef signs two creations of galettes des rois: the Authentic and the Crown. He also collaborates with Picard for a frangipani called Son Altesse Gourmande and Fou de Pâtisserie for a sublime Galette des Reines.

Also check out the best cookbooks to have at home.