Valentine’s Day has always been one of my favorite holidays. It’s the perfect reason to make everything heart-shaped and it doesn’t seem excessive. What can I say, I like hearts. After making my annual galette des rois (or pithivier) in January, I took the general galette concept of puff pastry with nut filling and came up with a Valentine’s Day version that has a chocolate hazelnut frangipane filling.
It is my third time making the traditional French pastry, galette des rois, to kick off the new year. You can see my first version and read a bit more about the pastry here. For the filling, I adapted the Bouchon Bakery Cookbook’s classic almond frangipane recipe to make a pistachio version.
I can’t take care of plants so I opted out of buying a real wreath this Christmas, however a baked one, that I can do. For this babka wreath, I did a chocolate and orange pairing, perfect for the holidays. The bright orange flavor is incorporated in the dough in juice and zest forms. Then lovely ribbons of chocolate are woven in.
