Puff Pastry Apple Roses

This Thanksgiving, I wanted to make a dessert that was easily shareable and a little fancier than a bar, so I settled on the idea of trying apple rosettes! I had thought about wanting to give them a shot ever since I had made those strawberry crepe rosettes, so I figured this was as good an opportunity as any.

Pro tip though: it's probably best not to try these unless you own a mandolin slicer! I thought, "How hard could this be to do with just a normal knife?" Answer: Incredibly hard. I just barely managed to avoid cutting myself in the process, and the apple slices were still thicker than I would have preferred! The problem with thicker slices is that even after microwaving, they do not soften up enough to be fully pliable, which makes shaping the rosettes a bit more of a struggle once you're wrapping everything up in puff pastry.

Second tip: Bake these in a metal muffin tin. As you can see, I used a silicone tray as that's all I had on hand. However, silicone definitely messed with the bake on this - the puff pastry wasn't heating up as quickly as it should have without the metal's heat conduction, so I ended up with these somewhat toasty apples:

Still tasty though! The darkened color luckily didn't come across in a burnt flavor.

Puff Pastry Apple Roses

adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients

2 apples (you'll want apples with a nice red peel)

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

1 tablespoon flour, for dusting

3 tablespoons apricot or strawberry preserves

Instructions

1. Grease your muffin tin and preheat your oven to 375F. 

2. Core the apples and cut them into super-thin slices (essentially as thin as you can get with peel still visible at the edge). A mandolin will help with this. Toss the slices in lemon juice to prevent browning.

3. Toss the apple slices in the butter, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Microwave the slices for 45 seconds, or until they're soft enough to mold. 

4. Roll out your thawed puff pastry sheet on a lightly floured service. (It should create a 9 by 12-inch rectangle.) Cut into six 2-inch wide strips. 

5. In a small bowl, combine the preserves with 2 tablespoons of water. Spread evenly on the dough. 

6. Arrange about 10 apple slices lengthwise in a straight line, overlapping slightly, on the dough. Put the slices peel-side up.

7. Fold up the bottom part of the dough and tightly roll the dough to form a rose shape. Set into the muffin tin. Repeat for all of the roses.

8. Bake for 40 minutes, or until golden brown. 

These are best when enjoyed warm, so dig in as soon as you can!