Every year it's one of my favourite tradition...
After Christmas that is. On January 6th ,everywhere in and around Lyon (and France) we celebrate the Epiphany in our own particular way: "on tire les rois" (we pull the kings). I have had to look up where the expression comes from: Apparently all the Christians used to celebrate Christmas on 6th January. When a new calendar was adopted, Catholics started celebrating Christmas on December 25th while other Christians kept the same date as before (If I understood it properly). So the Catholics started celebrating the Epiphany (when the Wise Men came to visit Jesus)on January 6th!
Depending on which part of the country you are, the type of galette varies. Last year, I was in Marseille on that date. We had a very nice, light and round brioche type cake topped with big pieces of glacés fruits. The brioche itself had a light hint of orange blossom water, it was delicious!
But back when we were little,

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we always had the same "galette a la frangipanne". The "king" (there is normally only 1 in each galette) would be anything from little white plastic figurine to collectable "feve" of any sort. AND of course, there was the matter of the crown. Made of paper/light carton, some years it would be silver, some plain gold, and some good years it would even had jewels inserted in it! i know it sounds silly now, but back then it was such an exciting day. Mum or dad would cut the slices. One of us would then decide which slice would go to who. And then we would all eat our slice of galette together, each of us hoping to suddenly bite on the "feve" and get crowned for the day. There was nothing else in it. You didn't get any special favour...it was just a nice family time really with a bit of cheating and a lot of giggling going on.

So if you want to have a go, here's how to...
 
make the galette:
(As for the crown, you'll have to invent that for yourself )

for 4 to 6 people-
2 puff pastries
100g of almond powder
100g of caster or icing sugar
100g of unsalted butter (soften)
1 tablespoon of dark rhum
2 large whole eggs or 3 small+egg yolk
a coupel of tablespoons of icing sugar
1 "feve" of some sort

cut 2 circles of puff pastry -same size as the tin
Place 1 circle on greasproof paper on a baking tray
Prick it with a fork all over then flip it over so that the fork marks end up against the greaseproof paper
Work your butter into a soft creamy consistency with a spatula
Add the sugar and mix well again
Add the soften butter then the almonds and the rhum
mix all the ingredients until you get a smooth paste
spread the mixture on the puff pastry,  leaving a 1cm edge
put the "feve" in, near the edge to avoid getting stuck on it when cutting the galette later
Wet the edge with some of the egg yolk beaten with a little water
cover the mixture with the second circle of puff pastry
press the edge really well to seal
very gently draw lines one way on top of the pastry then at a 90 degres angle to create a diamond pattern
brush the top of the galette with the rest of the egg yolk mix
Bake in a hot oven (220 degres/210 degres fan assisted oven) for 30 minutes.
Remove from the oven, and turn your oven up to 240 degres
Sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of icing sugar on top of the cake ands return to the oven for 5 to 7 minutes to get a nice shiny glaze

Now, who's going to sit under the table to decide which slice goes to who (the only true way to do it!!!)

PS: we are going to cheat this year. We'll have to celebrate the Epiphany on Saturday or Sunday, but better late than never. Gives mum and dad enough time to post us a crown hopefully!