Apple Roses

As you may have noticed, I’ve moved on from my “all things pumpkin” spree, and I’m on to an apple kick, lately.

... and I have a delicious dessert to share with you today!

You may have seen beautiful puff pastry apple roses on Instagram or in bakery displays - little tarts with a rose shape formed out of slices of apple - but you may not know how EASY they are to make.

There are many apple roses recipes out there, and most follow the same basic idea - uncooked puff pastry is spread with something - usually a thin layer of preserves or apricot jam.

It’s then layered with apples, and rolled up to make beautiful apple roses, which bake up with a thin crispy puff pastry base.

In the case of my apple roses dessert recipe skip the jam and go straight for the maple syrup... because obviously I do.

That maple syrup is accented with a sweet cinnamon sprinkle, both on the puff pastry strips, and on the apples themselves.

IMHO, that trifecta of awesome takes these cinnamon apple roses pastry straight into the “Perfect fall dessert” category, in a way that apricot jam ... doesn’t.

The best part?

While this looks like a fancy dessert - appropriate for all kinds of special occasions - it’s a ridiculously easy recipe to make up!

So, you can serve it up as the perfect dessert for Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, a special occasion afternoon tea ...

... or, really, just the next time you’re craving mini apple pies, and can’t be arsed to make pie dough or filling.

However and wherever you want to serve this beautiful dessert, you should definitely give this delicious recipe a try!

It may just become a favorite dessert in your household!

Ingredients

This apple roses recipe takes just a few super basic ingredients - you’ll likely have most of it on hand, and the remaining simple ingredients can be found in most grocery stores.

A few notes:

Apples

While I tend to use a lot of Mutsu and Granny Smith apples for baking - a bit more tart, yellow/green skins - when it comes to this recipe, I tend to go in a different direction.

First off, I like to use sweet apples - red apples, specifically. The skin of the apple is what gives the apple rose pastry its red color, after all!

I’ll usually use Honeycrisp apples, Pink lady apples, or Fuji apples. Red Delicious apple slices look really nice, also.

Finally, it doesn’t matter so much whether you use crisp apples or not - the cooking process will render them into tender apples, perfect for rolling!

Puff Pastry

This recipe uses a single sheet of puff pastry dough to make 6 beautiful apple rose pastries.

Generally speaking, puff pastry comes in 1 lb packages, with 2 pastry sheets each - you can find it in the frozen foods section.

You can either double the recipe and use a whole package at once, or just take out ONE of the sheets to defrost. I don’t recommend re-freezing puff pastry after letting it thaw.

Pure Maple Syrup

Please use real Maple Syrup - boiled sap that comes out of an actual maple tree - not “pancake syrup”.

They’re not the same thing, and they don’t taste or work the same!

This has come up as an issue before, so I feel like I need to clearly specify now!

Everything Else

No comments on the following, just including them here for the sake of completion:

Granulated sugar
Ground Cinnamon
Ground Nutmeg
Salt

How to Make Apple & Puff Pastry Roses

The full recipe is in the recipe card at the end of this post, this is the pictorial walk through, to show the technique.

Prepare the Apples

Cut apples in half, use a melon baller to core the apples

Use a sharp knife to thinly slice the apples - not paper-thin slices, but close! Place thin apple slices in a microwave safe large bowl along with the lemon juice. Gently toss to coat.

Drain off any excess juice. Measure 2 tablespoon granulated sugar into the bowl of sliced apples, toss once again to coat.

Make the Apple Tarts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Generously grease 6 muffin pan cavities with butter, and/or use a silicone pan. Set aside.

Mix together sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

Flatten out the sheet of puff pastry on a clean work surface.

Note: I like to line my flat surface with parchment paper, for easier clean up! If you’re not using parchment or a silicone mat, you’ll want to do this on a lightly floured surface.

Gently use a rolling to pin to flatten it out a little bit - don’t squish it too hard, and try to maintain the rectangular shape!

Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter to cut against the length (ie: from long side to long side), cut the puff pastry sheet into 6 equal strips.

Use a pastry brush to brush each strip of pastry with a little bit of maple syrup, then sprinkle pastry ships generously with the spiced sugar.

Pour remaining spiced sugar mixture over the cooled apple slices, gently toss to combine.

One strip at a time, place apple slices along an edge of a pastry strip.

You’ll want to start at one short end of a dough strip, have the skin side of each apple slice hanging about ½" off the edge of the long strip of dough, and overlap each slice by about ⅓ - ½.

Starting at one end of the pastry strip, roll the folded pastry and apples into a relatively tight spiral, keeping the folded edge of the dough level, as shown.

Gently press the loose of pastry dough into the side of the pastry, to secure.

Place in greased muffin tin, repeat with remaining 5 strips of pastry. Chill for 15 minutes.

Bake and Serve!

Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and cooked through.

Note: For best results, I recommend baking on the lower rack of the oven, to allow the pastry to bake before the apples overcook.

Remove pastries from the oven, and brush with remaining maple syrup, bake for another 5 minutes.

Allow pastries to cool for 5-10 minutes, before gently transferring each pastry to a wire rack or plate to finish cooling to room temperature.

Leftovers can be covered with plastic wrap on the plate - or transferred to an airtight container - and kept at room temperature for a day or two.

These are best served the day they’re made, though!

Note: the sugars and syrup can caramelize in the pan, and will act as a POWERFUL glue if you allow the pastries to fully cool in the pan. Take them out of the muffin cups while they’re still warm!