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Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Heavenly Garden Apple Rose Pastries


My girls and I enjoyed baking Apple Roses in preparation for the feast of St. Thérèse!  There are many variations of Apple Roses that can be found online, including pies, tarts, cakes and more, but we decided to use the puff pastry sheet we had in the freezer to make the following Apple Rose Pastries.  Happy Feast of St. Thérèse! 


Heavenly Garden Apple Rose Pastries
adapted from here and here

Ingredients:
  • 1 Puff Pastry Sheet 
  • 3 Apples - I used a combination of Fuji and Pink Lady
  • 5 Tablespoons Sugar
  • 2 teaspoons Cinnamon
  • 1 pinch Nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon Lemon Zest
  • 4 cups Water
  • 3 Tablespoons sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
  • Powdered Sugar for dusting (optional)
  • Parchment Paper

Directions:



Wash and core the apples. Slice in very thin slices, slightly smaller than 1/8 inch.  Place the sliced apples in a saucepan along with the 4 cups water, 3 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 2 minutes, or until the apple slices soften and can easily bend. 



Strain the apples and let cool in the colander.  Line a plate with paper towels and nicely arrange the apple slices so that they can dry and cool completely.


While the apples are cooling, mix the 5 tablespoons of sugar with the cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon zest.  Prepare you work surface by lightly sprinkling it with some flour (or just use a silicone mat) and unfold the sheet of puff pastry (it is easiest to work with if it is not completely thawed).  Using a pastry (or pizza) cutter, cut long strips approximately 1/2 inch wide.  Spread the cinnamon mixture over the dough and slightly press it down.


By this time your apples should be cool and almost dry.  Take a few slices and place them on the first strip of pastry dough, overlapping them so they do not fall out and will create a rose-like design (petals) once completed.  Now start rolling, making sure it is fairly tightly rolled.  Place on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.


Repeat until you have create all of the Apple Roses.


Bake at 425˚F for 25 minutes, or until nicely golden.


Dust with powdered sugar if desired.


St. Thérèse, the little flower, please pick me a rose from the heavenly garden and send it to me with a message of love; ask God to grant me the favor I thee implore and tell Him I will love Him each day more and more. -Rose Novena

19 comments:

  1. I have seen these fun apple rosettes around the foodie blogs. So glad you made them and tied them in to St. Therese (and they would be good for all the rose-associated saints, too). Yours are truly beautiful - little works of art!

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  2. Okay, so I have the puff pastry and a box of apples. It's last minute, but I'm going for it! Thank you for sharing it, Jessica. Love you!

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  3. Very appropriate in a subtle way, since St. Therese is from Normandy, an area of France known for its apples! What a great idea!

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  4. This is awesome, Jessica! Do you think it would work with Pillsbury? I have never purchased puff pastry, don't know what the package looks like! =)

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    1. Puff Pastry Sheets are made by Pepperidge Farm and can be found in the freezer section. Here is a link for you to see the packaging: Pepperidge Farm Products

      Hope that helps! :)

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  5. Oh my! These look incredible...thank you for sharing the recipe AND the tutorial!
    How sweet these would be for a tea!

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  6. These look amazing, and your tutorial/pictures make them seem doable. Looking forward to trying them.

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  7. We made these today (using leftover homemade pie crust from our quiches). We placed them, in the shape of a heart, on top of our family-sized apple crisp! Beautiful! Thanks

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  8. Thank you all for your kind comments!

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  9. And this page magically appeared in the National Catholic Register's roundup of blogs via ThePulp.it . . . way to go, Jessica.

    http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/abolish-human-abortion-group-starting-to-implode-how-our-lady-saved-christe?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NCRegisterDailyBlog+National+Catholic+Register#When:2013-10-9%2006:01:01

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  10. These are lovely and so I thought I'd give it a try. The assembly was a snap with your instructions and beautiful pictures, but the caramelized sugar on the bottoms got a little scorched. I'm not sure what happened since I actually baked them for less time that the recipe called for and my oven tends to run cool. They were pretty in a picture, and they were edible, but I couldn't share them with others. Any suggestions?

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    1. Hmmm... You know, I had that problem with one of my apple roses. It was the last one I made and the apples I used for it had not been dried completely on the paper towels, making it much moister than the others and creating more of a syrup with the sugar/cinnamon. (That is why I mentioned drying and cooling the apples completely.) That is the only thing I can think of, since I didn't have any other issues with mine. The bottoms were brown, but not at all scorched.

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    2. Thanks for the suggestion- it's definitely worth making sure they are dry next time. Also, I wonder if the variety of apple was too juicy...I used some from my parents' orchard- I don't even know what kind they are. Thanks again and happy Monday!

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    3. How nice to have apples from your parents' orchard! I'm so sorry you had trouble with the recipe!

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  11. These look amazing. Looking forward to trying them.Love you!

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  12. I just came upon this recipe endlessly searching for better tips to make this recipe. I have a few questions.

    1. I have found that regardless of the type of apple I use, the apple flavor once cooked is bland. I began to mix the applies in the traditional apple pie filling prior to laying them on the puff pastry. This added some taste, but still not what I am looking for. Do you think either soaking the apples in apple cider, or using your method, boiling them in apple cider will enhance the taste?

    2. Other recipes have called for 375 for 40-45 minutes, or 400 for 30-40 minutes. Each time I have used these ranging temperatures, the tips of the apples became slightly burnt, and some of the pastry dough did not cook inside the roses. Do you find that the 425 at 25 minutes bakes the dough inside the rose, and has less burnt apple petals? I decided to cover the apple roses with aluminum foil for most of the baking time, and removed it at the last 10 minutes. I still had burnt apple petals.

    Any suggestions will be helpful. I plan to bake these for Thanksgiving.

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  13. These look great. Thanks for sharing!

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