January sucks but la galette des rois does NOT - this is hands down one of my favorite desserts EVER. It’s only eaten once a year and you’ll rarely eat more than one slice due to the size of an individual galette and the number of people around the table. A little bite of fleeting heaven! Regardless of what religion you subscribe to, if any at all, it’s always interesting to know the root of a certain tradition and where it comes from.
La galette des rois is enjoyed yearly on January 6th, Epiphany (also known as Three Kings' Day). As the name suggests, this “kings galette” is eaten to celebrate the arrival of the three kings arriving to Bethlehem from Asia, Africa, and Europe and meeting baby Jesus for the first time. This tradition actually originates from the pagan Roman celebration of Winter Solstice and the god of harvest, Saturn. The golden galette was meant to represent the round and shining sun! Despite these dates shifting and the tradition gearing more towards religion, clearly regardless of the time period, all humans love a good slice of something sweet to celebrate.
How Do You Celebrate?
On Jan 6th, families and friends get together and sit around the table with a golden, glossy, galette smack in the middle. This galette is usually purchased at the local bakery and comes with a golden crown… you’ll understand why soon enough. The youngest child (this was always me in my family), gets under the table and is in charge of naming who each slice of galette is for. That way, there’s no cheating!
In each galette, you’ll find a fève which is a small ceramic figurine. Originally, it was a religious figure, usually baby Jesus, but nowadays you’ll find common cartoon characters. Last year we had a marsupilami fève! The person who gets the fève in their slice becomes king or queen, puts on their golden crown and picks their royal significant other for the day.
Different Iterations
There are different iterations of this dessert depending on where you live but the most common French one, and the my family eats, is a puff pastry tarte filled with frangipane. If you’ve never heard of frangipane, it’s basically a thick paste made from ground almonds, sugar, eggs, and butter. Yumarama?
Evidently, you’ll find certain bakeries give their unique takes on the galette by changing its shape, size, and adding new flavors. Last year in my village, the baker sold a few variations - pear and chocolate, apricot, and berries.
In the South of France, you’ll find a “gâteau des rois” instead, a king’s cake, made with an orange blossom flavored brioche and red fruit. Louis XIV’s court even was known to enjoy a gâteau des rois until the Sun King abolished this tradition (lol) because he didn’t want to let anyone even dream about becoming a fake king or queen for a day…
You may have heard of the famous King’s Cake in New Orleans? Same concept! This cake, however, is baked with a fava bean inside and covered in green (faith), purple (justice) and yellow (gold) color to designate Mardi Gras. You can read more about this interesting tradition here via the NYTimes.
Recipes
Although in France it’s pretty uncommon to make a galette yourself since you can find such perfect, inexpensive ones at your local bakery, I’m well aware that wherever most of us are reading this from we don’t have this same access. Last time I was in France, I picked up this kit for €2 because I couldn’t be fussed to make my own frangipane and it turned out delicious if I may say so myself!
If you want to attempt to make a galette, which I highly recommend, then obviously turn to the one and only baker extraordinaire,
! She has a few galette des rois recipes, each as gorgeous, golden, and scrumptious as the next.And if you’d like to make a classic frangipane one, check out her puff pastry 101 for any and all tips!
That’s it from me this week, happy 2025! Let me know what you’d like to see more of this year over on substack in the comments. x
Hi Claire! Growing up in Franche-Comté, we had a very local and little-known variation of galette des rois called galette franc-comtoise or galette bisontine :))
It looks somewhat similar, with a fève and designs carved on an egg-wash top; but it’s pretty different otherwise. It’s made of a milk-based choux pasty that is flavoured with orange blossom water, and baked in a cake pan (crust less). The pâte à choux doesn’t rise much, giving the galette an amazing chewy texture between flan pâtissier (YUM) and soufflé.
It’s truly addictive, and as for any galette, it’s a shame we only eat it once a year haha. Happy January 6th!
Love this and love you but Happy Jan 6th was a crazzzyyyyy intro 😭