by Dani Rowland, chef and farmer at Rowland’s Row Family Farm in Gold Hill, NC
Take advantage of our local North Carolina apples with this super fun, super simple pastry. This is an impressive individually sized dessert perfect for special occasions, like Valentine’s Day!
Photo from handletheheat.com
Ingredients
2 North or South Carolina Pink Lady apples
Juice of half a lemon
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
Flour, for dusting
3 tablespoons homemade peach jam
Powdered sugar, for dusting
Method
Photo from handletheheat.com
Start by taking your puff pastry out of the freezer and thawing according to the package directions. Preheat the oven to 375°F and grease a standard muffin tin.
Prepare a medium, microwave safe bowl with lemon juice. Next core and slice your apples in half; using a sharp knife slice your apples very, very thinly; approximately 1/8 inch. In order to prevent browning, toss your sliced apples with the lemon juice immediately after slicing. Next, add your butter, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg to the apples and toss it all together till the apples are well coated. Microwave the apple mixture for 45 seconds, or until soft and pliable enough to mold.
Next, place the puff pastry on a lightly floured work surface. Gently roll out the puff pastry into a 9 by 12-inch rectangle. Once the dough is rolled out, cut six 2-inch wide strips of dough.
In a small bowl, combine the jam with 2 tablespoons of water, microwave for 30 seconds if it was refrigerated. Spread the jam evenly over each strip of dough. Arrange about 10 apple slices lengthwise in a straight line, overlapping slightly, on a strip of dough. Fold up the bottom part of the dough so that the bottom half of the apples now have pastry folded over them.
Start at one end of the strip of pastry and tightly roll the dough up like a pin wheel and press the edge to seal. Repeat for all the roses placing each rose in the muffin tin.
Bake the pastries for 40 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Plate and sprinkle with powdered sugar.