Have you ever tried to type something with one hand (like a blog post, for instance) while nursing a baby, hoping that you can clear your mind and get some thoughts down before your toddler wakes up? This is probably my fifth attempt in three days to do so and I’m almost positive I’ll be interrupted by something in the next few minutes. How do you mamas of 3, 4, 5+ babies do it all?

But I will soldier on- you guys deserve some attention, too!

Say hello to my second round of mini galettes this week. To follow up my savory breakfast galettes, I present something a little sweeter- but not too sweet.  These galettes are made with a layer of ricotta, a drizzle of honey and topped with beautiful fresh strawberries. I know I’ve lived in the South for a few years, but I still can’t believe strawberries are in season this early down here. I’m a lucky lady.

If you are a person who doesn’t like overly sweet treats, this one’s for you. You can eat it for breakfast or dessert, depending on your mood. I like it served hot with an extra drizzle of honey on top- I’m sure I would have added some ice cream or whipped cream, though, if we had any on hand. This is another great choice for brunch as well- perhaps Easter brunch?

If you don’t like the idea of the ricotta cheese, you can substitute mascarpone cheese or cream cheese as well- just make sure the cream cheese is very soft and spreadable so you don’t tear the pie dough.

I hope this recipe gets you excited for spring. Spring is my second favorite season, ya’ll (after Fall, which is the best of the best)! Spring means strawberry picking, birds chirping, playground equipment that isn’t burning hot, slightly fewer annoying bugs, sidewalk chalk, fruit in my water when I feel fancy, toenail polish, asparagus and green, green grass. Spring for the win!

Eat one of these before spring is over.

Oh, good morning, HEAVEN. How did you end up on my breakfast plate?

Ya’ll know I love me some breakfast and brunch. They’re the meals best known for being awesome. I have whipped up some tasty breakfasts and brunches in the past, but I think I hit the jackpot on this one, people. Picture it with me:

Flaky, buttery pie crust. Creamy Fontina and Ricotta cheese. Salty prosciutto. Drippy egg yolk. Roasted asparagus. And you can have them all in one bite. Droolfest 2012, my friends.

After reading this post a few months ago, I could not get the idea of a breakfast galette out of my head. I decided to make it my own by creating a single serving version- that way each person is guaranteed a good amount of crust and a whole egg yolk to themselves. I cannot get enough of drippy egg yolks, especially when they come from my own happy chickens. (Yes, all of the beautiful eggs pictured are from our fine, feathered gals in the backyard.)

I’m somewhat obsessed with the egg yolks in this recipe; but I love the asparagus, as well (it reminds me of one of my favorite spring dishes, this Asparagus and Gruyere Tart).  I can think of nothing better on a spring morning than eating one of these galettes, fresh out of the oven. I downed one just minutes after I took these photos. It’s a good thing I only made two of them. It is a bit decadent, but worth every bite.

You could go vegetarian with these, but I beg you- don’t leave the prosciutto out! It adds the perfect, salty undertone to the egg yolk. It’s like bacon and eggs, only 1,000 times better. How’s that for an endorsement?

 I also experimented with some sweet galettes which I’ll be showing you soon. I love galettes- they are impossible to mess up and always find a way to look fancy. Try serving them up at your next breakfast or brunch gathering- you can make them ahead, then reheat in the oven and add the egg yolks before serving. Or how sweet would it be to make these for breakfast-in-bed? You will definitely get extra points when your hubby takes a bite.

And just so you know..

This post was sponsored by Frigidaire. When you check out Suzanne Goin’s springtime recipes at www.maketimeforchange.com, Frigidaire will donate $1 to Save the Children’s U.S. programs. Plus, you’ll be entered for a chance to win the new Frigidaire Range with Symmetry^TM Double Ovens – featuring two large ovens (that can each fit up to a 28 pound turkey!), providing the flexibility to cook multiple dishes at the same time at different temperatures, so you can get more on the table at the same time.

I chose four recipes to test: Smitten Kitchen’s All Butter Crust, Dorie’s Good For Almost Everything Pie Crust, Cook’s Illustrated Foolproof Pie Dough and Alton Brown’s Pie Crust.  I had some helpful taste testers to judge the first three (SK, D and CI) and hubs and I gave Alton’s a try a few days later.  Lots of thoughts to follow- let’s get going.

 Smitten Kitchen: I always have high hopes for SK recipes, so I was excited to try her all-butter recipe. She prefers the old-fashioned hand-mixed method, so this one had a little extra elbow grease mixed in.  It came together nicely and was one of the easiest to roll out.  I used this dough for SK’s Sour Cherry Slab Pie, which was the favorite pie of my taste-testers.  That could be because it had the highest crust to filling ratio, or because the crust was thicker.  Regardless, it was the flakiest and got the most compliments.

 Dorie: I was disappointed with Dorie for the first time here!  This was my least favorite of all the recipes.  It browned (read: burnt) too quickly in the oven and shrank back a lot during baking.  It looked so promising before it went into the oven.  I used Dorie’s crust as the base for this Lemon Meringue Pie from Zoe Bakes.  This one was quickly taken out of the running.

 Cook’s Illustrated: The CI recipe was the easiest to pull together and the least fussy of the four recipes.  The secret ingredient here was cold vodka in place of half of the usual water.  I used the CI crust for a double crusted Apple Pie- a good choice, since it was the easiest for me to roll out and work with.  More testers ate the apple pie than the cherry slab pie, but they still picked the SK crust over the CI crust.  I think this crust is a good choice, but not as flaky or buttery as SK.

Alton Brown: Our good man Alton has a very specific way to execute his recipes, doesn’t he?  For this pie crust, he called for a spray bottle to add water to the dry ingredients.  I have to say that I’m not sure it made that big of a difference.  I used the AB crust for most of the Cherry Berry Hand Pies (I had some extra crust from the other recipes to use up as well).  It was a tasty crust, but I couldn’t tell much of a difference between the CI recipe.

Lemon Meringue Pie: Dorie’s crust, Zoe’s filling and meringue
Cherry Slab Pie: SK’s crust and filling

Brown Sugar Apple Pie (with one of my little pie birds!)
Cook’s Illustrated Crust and filling from Pie

Cherry Berry Hand Pies: AB’s crust with my own filling

Conclusions:
For me, I think the winner is definitely Smitten Kitchen.  It was the biggest crowd pleaser.  There were good points about Alton’s recipe and the CI recipe, but my all-purpose pick is SK.  That being said, I think there are things you can do with any pie crust recipe to get the best results.

• Make sure your ingredients are COLD. That means your butter, your water, your flour, everything.  This is huge.
• Chill the dough in between steps.  This is time consuming, but helps the texture in the end.
• Only roll your dough once, if possible.  All of the pie doughs were difficult to roll out after the initial roll.  They became elastic and started to shrink back- that means tough crust.
• Use flour liberally while you’re rolling to keep dough from sticking.
• Make sure steam can escape your pie, whether it’s using a pie bird or just poking holes with a fork.
• Have fun and take it easy! I always make pie such a big deal, but it’s really not.  It’s fun and delicious and you should be smiling while you’re making it.

I’m glad I finally dug in and did some pie research.  I’m no longer afraid of the pie, but I’ll still probably employ the lazy pie techniques like the galette and slab pie.  It’s just my way.  I hope this comparison was helpful to you if you’ve been searching for a recipe, too.

(Special thanks to my little helper! And by helper, I mean a giant mess maker. As if I don’t make enough of a mess when I bake alone.. maybe he got it from me?)

Did I tell you my thing about pies?  Here’s my thing.

I didn’t used to like pies as a kid, but I do now.  I love to eat them, but I don’t really like to make them.  (I’m more of a cake baker, remember?)  I know pie dough is easy to pull together, but the part I don’t like is rolling it, shaping it, pre-baking, par-baking, all that nonsense. You have to think ahead.  I’m not into it, and that’s why I chose pies as part of my GFA challenge.. it’s not really my comfort zone.

The galette is like the lazy gal’s pie.  All you have to do is make the crust, roll it out haphazardly and fill it with fruit.  It can be an even lazier gal’s pie if you use a pre-made crust.  All the tastiness of pie without the work! (Am I selling it?)

I plan on getting into some real pies here soon, but if you’re scared of pie-making like me, give the galette a go.  It’s a great end to a summer meal, perfect with ice cream, and I’m pretty sure I’ll be eating it for breakfast while most of you are reading this.  Hopefully blackberries are in season for you right now- if not, bookmark or favorite or star or pin it- or whatever the kids are doing these days.