The Jealous Crumpet

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Happy Epiphany: Let Them Eat Cake!

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Today is the day that the three wise men FINALLY showed up to bring baby Jesus some sweet swag. In various parts of the world this is celebrated by eating a cake that has a trinket baked inside of it. The person that finds the trinket, without eating/choking on it, is dubbed king, given a paper crown and a year’s worth of bragging rights.

This year I spent Christmas in France with my husband and in-laws so so we celebrated Epiphany a bit early with Galette des rois (King Cake).

The french version of King Cake is lovely, with a buttery, flakey phyllo housing   sweet frangipane. The trinket or fève is of a nicer caliber than the misshapen plastic Jesus that typically adorns the American versions and can come in a variety of shapes and themes.

My mother-in-law has collected fèves most of her life and has a impressive collection tucked away in a coffee tin. Over the years people have added to her collection and she now has hundreds of miniatures.  There are nativity sets, Disney Characters, monuments, barn yard animals, 1920’s actors, books, etc. I love looking at the every Christmas when we visit.3

I ate my slice fastidiously, confident that THIS year I had the fève.  No fève. But no one got it, so we had to try again later than night at dinner.

I carefully ate tiny bits, not wanting to break or swallow the ceramic prize.  And the Queen was…

My husband. Every freakin year!

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The prize was an adorable ceramic book: Le Diamant de la Couronne (The Crown Diamonds.

But it wasn’t a totally loss for me.  After careful consideration and dagger looks from his wife, my husband dubbed me Queen of the King Cake and I got to wear the crown for a bit.

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Ignore the look of extreme jet lag and exhaustion.

It’s good to be Queen!

If you want to make your own King Cake you can get my recipe from last year. It is simple and easy because I am a lazy chef, but it was pretty tasty if I do say so myself.

https://thejealouscrumpet.com/2015/01/06/galette-des-rois/

1Y2B1373


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Galette des Rois

King Cake with two queens and a llama.

Left: King Cake Right: I didn’t have 3 kings so I had to make do with 2 queens (I guess the statue of liberty is a queen) and a llama.

Happy Epiphany! To celebrate the three kings locating baby Jesus (pre-GPS, a feat indeed) with their gifts of gold (score!), frankincense (aromatic resin.. lame) and myrrh (more resin… gee thanks) we eat cakes with a hidden choking hazards.

I wanted to photograph my galette with the three wise men, but I didn’t have three king figures, so I had to make do with 2 queens (and that is a loose interpretation of ‘queen’, since I don’t think the Statue of Liberty is technically a queen) and a llama.

In the states we eat sugar and dye covered King Cakes with a hidden plastic baby.  I’m not the biggest fan of the American version, but it is tradition.  In France they make Galette des Rois, an almond infused cake with a hidden porcelain figurine that many people collect.

I made the french version, complete with a porcelain fève, which literally translates to a fava bean.

ingredients

The ingredients of the filling of the king cake!

Galette des Rois

Frozen Puff Pastry

Filling:

1 1/4 cups of almond flour

1/3 cups of sugar

pinch of salt

8 table spoons of butter (unsalted)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract 

Mix the dry ingredients together. Add 8 tablespoons of cut up butter and mix.  Add two eggs and vanilla extract and mix thoroughly.  Put in the refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes.  1Take chilled puff pastry and cut into a circle.  I wasn’t very precise, but I had a pasta bowl and used that as my template.  2Next add the almond filling to the crust and don’t forget to add your hidden baby jesus.  Side note: Don’t forget to not choke on baby Jesus.  That would be a tragic celebration of his birth.  3Pinch the crust together to create a seal and coat the top of the crust with egg whites.  Sprinkle sliced almonds on the top.  Bake at 400 degrees for 28 to 30 minutes.

The mail carrier came to the door right when I was about to take my galette out and he’s a talker.  I got distracted chatting about the weather so my cake is a bit overcooked.  1Y2B1373