Have I mentioned before how much I love puff pastry? So far I’ve only used the stuff that comes frozen in a box and the results are so consistently good that I about faint thinking about how much better these things will taste when I make the pastry from scratch . . . something I forgot to put in my Cooking Goals for 2010 post but which has been on my list ever since I got the Michael Roux Pastry book. But anyway, that’s neither here nor there, I’m supposed to be talking about the dessert my friend Shana and I made on Saturday night!
This Spiced Stewed Apples in Puff Pastry recipe comes from the Spanish home cooking book La Cocina de Mama, a book I’ve posted from before when I made Cinnamon and Lemon Scented Cookies. The success of both these recipes is making me think I’ll be cooking through this entire book and loving every minute!
The ingredients for this dessert are quite simple and almost healthy (well, except for the puff pastry part). There is only 1/2 cup of sugar in the whole recipe, which feeds 4. When we originally picked this recipe I intended to skip the white wine because I didn’t have any on hand but we ended up picking some up at the store . . . and I can now say without a doubt: don’t skip the wine! It added an incredible depth to the flavor and made the dish more adult and complex.
The first thing you do is make a syrup with all the ingredients except the apples. The smell in the kitchen at this point is enough to make you weak in the knees. You’ve been warned!
Then the apples are added to the syrup and cooked down. That delicious smell in the kitchen became absolutely intoxicating at this point. It was hard work to keep myself from eating this stuff straight out of the pot! But it was well worth the wait, because the combination of soft, syrupy, intense filling with the crispy, light-as-air puff pastry was simply divine. And since it takes less than an hour to make, I see this becoming a regular treat around these parts!
Spiced Stewed Apples in Puff Pastry
Adapted from La Cocicna de Mama
Serves 4
- 6 oz puff pastry
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
- 8 tbsp apple juice
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1 cinnamon stick
- Peel of 1/2 a lemon, yellow part only
- 1/4 tsp freshly-grated nutmeg
- 5 cloves
- 2 large Golden Delicious apples, cut into approximately 1/4 inch x 3/4 inch pieces
- Confectioner’s sugar for dusting
Tip: Make it easier for yourself by using a spice bag for the lemon/cloves/cinnamon! I didn’t think of doing this until it was too late but it would be totally worth it. Simply take a piece of cheesecloth and tie it around the lemon/cloves/cinnamon. When it comes time to fish them out you’ll only have to find the bag, not each individual clove!
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Roll puff pastry out to 1/8 inch thickness, then cut into 4 pieces (approximately 4″ x 3″ each). Spray a cookie sheet with spray oil and place pastries on sheet. Bake for 8 minutes or until puffed and golden. Turn off the oven and leave the pastries inside with the door slightly ajar (I place a wooden spoon in the door to keep it open) and wait about 5 minutes for pastry edges to crisp further.
In a medium saucepan over high heat, combine sugar and 3 tbsp of apple juice and stir constantly until syrupy. Turn heat off and carefully stir in remaining apple juice, then add the next 5 ingredients. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer 10 minutes. Add the apples and bring to a boil again, then lower heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, uncovered. Check that apples are tender at this point. If they are, raise the heat and gently boil down for about 2 minutes to thicken the syrup. Cool mixture and pick out the lemon peel, cinnamon stick, and cloves (or the spice bag if you used one).
To serve, split each pastry puff in half and fill with 1/4 of apple mixture. Dust with confectioner’s sugar. Would also be great served with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream (but let’s face it, what isn’t?!?).
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This looks fab! Now if only I could gather my courage, and attempt puff pastry!!