Delicious baked apples in a crusty crust

Hello friends,

So here I am talking about how to impress your guests, again, or surprise yourself with a bit of creativity.

As you probably know I like to make my guests feel special and always like to end a dinner party with something to remember, usually it happens with food. So last night we had friends over for dinner and I was looking for a simple dessert to make, not very sweet, with simple ingredients that yield a big impact. I had six apples chilling in my refrigerator that no one paid attention to and a lots of frozen puff pastry. What to do what to do. Bingo – who doesn’t like warm baked apples in a crusty crust? well…my daughters. but that doesn’t count.

After scoring, cutting, wrapping and baking, in the end I came up with these mouth-watering sparkly baked apples in a golden crusty crust with stuffing that simply tastes  a.m.a.z.i.n.g.

Not only that but these apples look beautiful too, like little individual presents. I mean if the apples had eyes they would blink right back at me.

It’s so easy to make even a teenager with a nose ring can do it.

so, shall we:

ingredients

1 pkg puff pastry dough, thawed and chilled
6 medium size granny smith apples
1/2 c. toasted almonds, crushed
2 tbsp honey
3 cloves cardamon, crushed
1 tbsp brown sugar (optional)
1 egg white + 1 tbsp water (for egg wash)
2 tbsp fruit jam (orange, apricot
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
juice of one lemon
Zest of one lemon

preparations

Heat the oven to 375º. Wash apples, scoop the cores then peel. Try to keep the apples whole. Drizzle with a few drops of lemon juice to keep color.

For the mix: in a microwave melt the jam about 30-40 seconds just to get it easier to blend. Combine honey, crushed nuts, cardamon, zest and jam and mix well.

Stuff apples with the nut mix, as much as the apples can contain. Set aside.

Roll out the pastry sheet into a thin layer and cut into equal squares, roughly 5″x5″. Larger squares if you have larger apples. Place stuffed apples in the center of each square, brush inside edges with the egg wash and wrap apple with pastry sheet. Here you can get creative and wrap it anyway you like. I pulled the four corners into the center and left little “ears” sticking out (in case you feel like stuffing these tiny pockets too). Place the wrapped apples on a greased parchment paper, brush with egg wash all around and sprinkle with cinnamon powder and brown sugar. Chill for 15 min.

Bake from 35 to 45 minutes, or until deep golden brown.

Serve warm. If you have a very sweet tooth add a side of vanilla ice cream, it’s a perfect cool/warm combo for any juice buds. Otherwise, serve the warm apple on its own making it the star.

P.S. I didn’t know it was my friend’s birthday that night (what kind of friend am I anyway?), so I quickly took a tiny birthday candle, stuck it inside the edge of the pastry and boom, instant personal birthday cake. The man was happy. Still is.

A must try. Yum.