Last weekend, Harlow and I decided to make a blueberry galette. And by “make,” I mean “bake” which is a word that doesn’t often come out of my mouth. At least in reference to an activity performed by me.
I am actually partnering with the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council to promote their Bite Size Summer which includes a list of 100 summer family activities that are simple and screen-free. For my blog post, I could have done almost anything— document Mike’s daily blueberry smoothie making routine, ask Seri to plan a blueberry inspired Project Playdate, just take some pics of some fresh blueberries and eat them straight out of a bowl, etc.
But no, I was inspired and for the first time in my life, I felt like baking.
“Harlow do you want to bake a blueberry galette with me?”
“What’s a galette?”
“It’s kind of like a pie but I hear it’s easier to pull off for people who don’t bake much.”
“Okay!”
I cross referenced a few recipes to come up with our ingredient list.
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon
1/4 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Store bought refrigerated pie dough
1 egg whisked (to spread on pie dough edge and sprinkle with sugar)
RECIPE INSTRUCTIONS:
Step 1: Discover I don’t have all the ingredients in the house.
Step 2: Go to the supermarket to buy cornstarch, lemon and pie dough.
Step 3: Drive home. Realize I don’t have a cookie sheet either. Drive back. Buy cookie sheet. Drive home once again.
Step 4: Lay out all the ingredients.
Step 5: “HARLOW!!!!!!! COME BAKE WITH ME!!!!!”
Step 6: Fashion Harlow’s hair into what she calls “cooking hair,” otherwise known as a “ponytail”
Step 7: Wince as Harlow drags the kitchen chair across my white wood floors to the countertop.
Step 8: Instruct Harlow to mix all the ingredients for the filling (cornstarch, lemon, and sugar) into a big bowl.
Step 9: “I don’t want this bowl. I want the pink bowl.” “The pink bowl is too small.” “THAT PINK BOWL.” “That’s a red bowl.” “NO IT’S NOT! IT’S PINK!!!!” “Fine, use it.”
Step 10: Tell Harlow we need to squeeze the lemon and then laugh as she squeezes it before you are able to cut it in half.
Step 11: Watch as Harlow slowly stirs the mixture making sure to remove no cornstarch lumps whatsoever, while singing a made-up blueberry song that sounds suspiciously similar to Justin Bieber’s Love Yourself. (My momma don’t like you but she likes blueberries…”)
Step 12: After a little bit of a fight, convince Harlow to let me stir the mixture to remove the lumps.
Step 13: Oh crap! I forgot to preheat the oven to 375 degrees!!!
Step 14: Slow down to sloth-like stirring pace so oven will have proper time to pre-heat.
Step 15: Pull out store bought pie dough, unroll one piece. Never let on to Harlow that real bakers make their own dough. Nope. This is how it is done.
Step 16: Tell Harlow to pour mixture into center of pie dough.
Step 17: Watch as Harlow meticulously places one blueberry at a time.
Step 18: “Harlow, it’s much easier if you just pour the entire bowl in the center.”
Step 19: Watch as Harlow pours the mixture directly on the outskirts.
Step 20: Sop up mixture with a paper towel and carefully push ingredients over to their intended place.
Step 21: “Where are you going, Harlow????”
Step 22: Mourn loss of sous chef.
Step 23: Fold up the sides so all filling is contained in the center.
Step 24: Oh, Harlow— you’re back! Just in time to paint the edges of the galette crust with milk!
Step 25: Realize you don’t own a cooking paint brush. Is that what they are called? Probably not.
Step 26: Give Harlow a fork to use instead. Watch for five painfully slow minutes as Harlow tries her best to spread egg on the crust but drips it everywhere instead.
Step 27: Sprinkle egg puddles with sugar.
Step 28: Open oven and place inside.
Step 29: “WAAAAAAAH!!!! I WANTED TO PUT IT IN THE OVEN!!!!”
Step 30: Explain that the oven is too hot for her to put the galette in the oven herself and that she won’t be doing something like that until she is approaching 18. “Do you want me to turn on the light so you can see it bake?”
Step 31: Harlow nods yes. Light is switched on. Tantrum is diverted. Excellent.
Step 32: Let pie cook for 45-50 minutes, until the pie crust is golden brown and the middle is bubbling.
Step 33: Let cool.
Step 34: Take hundreds of pictures of Harlow showing off the end result.
Step 35: Yell for everyone to come into the kitchen and observe the beautifully rustic deliciousness that is your blueberry galette. Force them to try it even if they say they are not hungry.
Step 36: Pair with Dulce de Leche ice cream when you run out of vanilla. FYI, you will not be disappointed.
Step 37: Realize blueberry galettes have THE PERFECT crust to filling ratio, thus making them not only easier to bake than pies but much tastier too.
Step 38: Lick plate clean.
Step 39: Cut yourself an additional piece.
I predict blueberry galettes will be my new go-to dish if anyone comes over for dinner or if I am required to bring something for dinner at someone else’s house. I will be making them all summer long.
In fact, the very next day, Harlow asked if we could make another.
“Really? You want to make another blueberry galette?”
“YES!”
Sure, I’ll make another one. We were out of lemon so we used orange instead, with just a little bit less sugar. It was also delicious. Seriously— you can’t mess galettes up!
If it wasn’t for the hot stove, I really think Harlow could make one all on her own. It’s that easy.
$250 WHOLE FOODS GIVEAWAY:
Today I’m giving away a $250 gift card to Whole Foods!
To enter, you must be a Mommy Shorts subscriber. If you are not one already, you can become one here. Then visit the Bite Size Summer page and pick a blueberry-focused summer activity you would like to see me do with my kids. (You can also grab their limited edition activity poster to keep handy for inspiration.) Whichever answer gets the most entries, I’ll do for my next Bite Size Summer post!
Winner will be announced on June 20th.
Leave your answer in the comments below!
Winner update:
Congrats to Lissa R! Please contact annie@mommyshorts.com to claim your prize.
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This post was sponsored by the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council, but my longtime love of fresh blueberries is my own.
Plant a blueberry bush in your new garden with the girls! Then you can pick your own blueberries for your galette.
I’d LOVE to see your kids dressed in 80’s/90’s attire!
I think having the “fruit sushi” or the “kids make their own smoothies” would be good.
You should go blueberry picking with your kids, and dress Harlow up as a giant blueberry!
(Where was Miss Mazzy is this post?, try and get her to dress up too!)
My toddler loves to help in the kitchen so I love the ideas that don’t involve heat, smoothies, blueberry popsicles, parfaits. this is right up our alley.
I vote for the indoor scavenger hunt!
Definitely storytelling! Guaranteed good time with Harlow!
BLANKET FORT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You should plant a blueberry bush!
A scavenger hunt sounds fun!
Make a Polaroid scrapbook!
That smoothie bar sounds pretty fantastic!!
Homemade ice pops!
Fruit sushi!
Fruit sushi! I have a nearly 10 year old daughter that has “new food” phobias – I bet if Harlow & Mazzy made them I could talk her into it though!
Since your little one likes to help so much in the kitchen, I wonder if she’d be interested in the Kids Chop Chop cooking club? I signed little miss food phobia up for it, and she has actually made *and* tried 3 new foods! 🙂
The fruit sushi or Polaroid. Such fun ideas. My daughter is blueberry obsessed!
I’d love to see some ideas for sweet fruit sushi rolls!
Fruit sushi rolls!
You should have a build your own smoothie bar! My girls love to make smoothies at home!
I’d love to see ya’ll take turns storytelling (one line at a time). I think Harlow would KILL it!
You should do the polaroid activity…but get an Instax Wide camera instead. I got my husband one for his birthday and he loves it. We have a 5 year old (girl) and a 4 year old (boy) and they love taking photos with Daddy. Bonus: You can always order film on amazon and have it delivered to your door.
I would like to see summer fruit sushi. My daughter loves sushi!
I think your girls would enjoy blueberry picking 🙂
I like the indoor scavenger hunt idea! I love blueberries – can’t wait to make this at home
The fruit sushi sounds like something your girls would have a blast with especially after you used to do the sandwich sushi!!!
Plant blueberry bushes! I think the girls would love that! Then next summer Harlow can pick her own blueberries for her galette!
Plant blueberry bushed for sure! You could use your own berries to make smoothies or fruit pops and so much more. While you wait for them to grow, you can go pick some from somewhere else. Fun fun!
Fruit sushi rolls!
Build a fort with every pillow and blanket on one floor of your house!
Fruit sushi rolls!!!!
Mazzy and Harlow plan a play date 🙂
Love this! I can’t believe I haven’t though to do a galette with my older kid who always wants to help cook. That changes this weekend!
I think you should make the popsicles!
The story telling challenge!! One line at a time!
Smoothie bar- because smoothie mustaches are the cutest!
Blueberry picking! So much fun and then you have blueberries to make more galettes!
I would love to see you find silly props around the house and do your own photo booth pictures.
I vote for fruit sushi rolls!
Definitely the smoothie bar! I’ve noticed that if they help make it, they might be more inclined to eat it. Or just say “ewwww” and refuse to try 🙂
Hard decision. These all sound fun! I think the girl’s would think poloroid pictures are cool though. 🙂
Pick fresh blueberries at a nearby farm and take lots of pictures and make another galette ?
fruit sushi!
Build a fort with ALL of the blankets and pillows! I bet M and H would turn it into a castle 😉
Please make homemade ice pops with frozen fruit…so I know how hard it is before I attempt it;-)
I say the rock painting, could use as decor all around outside!
I’d love to see you make the fort with ALL your pillows and blankets, but since you asked for a blueberry focused idea, what about taking the girls to a blueberry farm to pick your own fresh berries?
Fruit sushi, for sure!
Plant a blueberry shrub! We are actually going to go to our local farm to buy one and plant in our backyard. My 3 yo loves watering his “plants” every morning!
Fruit sushi sounds fun!!
Smoothie bar sounds divine and so fun for your girls!!!
Love the fruit sushi – such a yummy and cute idea!
The old toy outside on a blanket idea is such good way to spark new interest in an old thing ☺
Fruit sushi rolls!!!
I vote for blanket fort.
Pick fresh blueberries at a nearby farm to take home!
Definitely going with the fruit sushi idea!!!
I would love to see the fruit sushi! We are huge sushi fans in our house, Whole Foods actually makes some awesome sushi by the way!
Collecting and painting rocks would be a great summer activity for kids of different ages.
I really like the organize a bake sale for your local animal shelter.
Make fruit sushi!
Ice pops! Yummmm!!!
I would love you guys to create your own blueberry smoothie! We are constantly looking for new smoothie ideas!
Build your own parfaits! Yum!
Blueberry ice pops for the win!
I love the Polaroid camera idea. We just ordered one too! We recently visited friends that had us snap a Polaroid pick with their newborn. They had a board with all of their visitors pics pinned to it.
I’d love to see the indoor scavenger hunt – looks fun for both adults and kids.
I think the build your own smoothie bar sounds great!
Plant blueberry bushes 🙂
Make blueberry smoothies. Harlow and Mazzy appear to have fun in the kitchen! Plus what’s more fun to clean up than blueberry stains? ?
Plant blueberry bushes!
Indoor Scavenger hunt- sounds like a good photo op
for picky eaters- entice them build their own smoothie bar.
Paint smooth rocks! That sounds like fun!
Definitely the fort. Sounds awesome and messy
For a blueberry activity, I’d like to see a berry farm. Overall, I’d love to see the fort!
Rock monsters!!! What kid doesn’t love picking out rocks and making lil monster friend?
I’m voting for the indoor scavenger hunt! That sounds adorable.
Plant blueberry bushed! I have 2 raspberry bushes at my house, and the kiddo loves checking on them to see if anything is growing. And they are sooooo low maintenance!
Plant blueberry bushes at your summer house!
Plant blueberry bushes…you have the new garden built…plant some…I want to see how it works out so I may do it too.
Let the kids build their own parfaits! Talk about DIY.
how about building a fort. one of my son’s favorite activities
Building a fort has SUMMER written all over it! Have fun! Really enjoy your blog.
The fort sounds fun!
DEFINITELY make a summer fruit sushi. frushi. it’s amazing.
Make their own parfait bar! So fun, so messy, and sooo cute!
Plant blueberry bushes. How fun!
Build your own smoothie bar
Definitely the fruit sushi!
Would love to see the ‘take a walk, collect smooth rocks, go home and decorate’ idea!! My daughter is an insane collector of all things she can find on the ground and she would love love this idea!
Homemade ice pops! Would be fun to make and delicious and cold to eat.
Go blueberry picking! My family tries to do that every summer (at small no-frills blueberry farms) and we have a blast! The bushes are low so it’s perfect for small kids.
I would like to see you guys go pick fresh blueberries. It’s always fun for us! 🙂
i love the homemade fruit bars made with blueberries, they are so good for you. i freeze my leftover blueberries and make smoothies with them as well. the homemade frozen bars made with fruit, are a healthy, low fat, low calories snack. refreshing in the summertime as well.
Build Your Own Smoothie Bar sounds pretty neat!
Plant blueberry bushes!
Summer fruit sushi!
Summer fruit sushi!
Love this one I may just try this with my kids it would be a lot of fun! “show your kids whaat life before instagram was like-buy a polaroid camera and use it to ‘scrapbook’ your favorite summer moments #nofilter”
I think the girls would rock a rainy day indoor scavenger hunt!
i like the smoothie bar idea