Apple & Pear Strips

So what else can be done with puff pastry? Building on the puff pastry and the almond frangipane from the last post, we can add some fruits and sweets and make another delicious dessert.

This one, I really like...a lot of it is due to aesthetic reasons. I have a particular fondness for shiny foods. Somehow they look more delicious when they glisten. My only real complaint is that I would've liked all my apple/pear slices to be the same size...but to do that would've required the sacrifice of many more apples and pears...and a lot of waste.

Poached Pears on the left, Apples on the right

So to make these...

Apple Strips

1 lb puff pastry
1 egg for egg wash

1 lb almond frangipane
4 golden delicious apples
1 oz melted butter

2 oz apricot glaze
Optional Finishing: Sliced Almonds and Confectioners' sugar


1) Roll dough into a rectangle approximately 14"x18". Allow dough to rest in refridgerator for about an hour.
2) Cut dough into four 1" strips and two 5" strips. Place the 5 inch strips on a baking pan and dock (take a look at this if you don' t know what that means: Ateco 1357 Dough Docker). Paint the edges with the egg wash. Apply the 1" strips to the long sides. Press down on edge with the pointer and middle finger approximately 1/2 inch apart. Cut through all layers by taking a knife and slicing the dough between your fingertips at ~1/2 inch intervals. This is to get the 1" and the 5" strips to stick to each other. Refrigerate until firm.
3) Pipe frangipane between the 1" strips. Peel, core, and slice apples to 1/8" thick. Fan slightly and place over frangipane. Brush with melted butter and brush the edges with egg wash.
4) Bake at 350 degrees until the pastry is well colored (check the sides to make sure they aren't white), ~30 minutes.
5) Brush apples with apricot glaze.
Optional: If your sides didn't rise evenly or doesn't look very good, you can top with almonds or confectioners sugar to hide the "flaw."

If you want to do the pear version, poach some pears and follow same instructions. Note: Pears don't have be sliced as thinly.

Poached Pears
Cold water
1/2 oz lemon juice
1 1/4 lbs ripe pears
1/2 lb granulated sugar
1/4 vanilla bean

1) Combine water and lemon juice in a large pan.
2) Peel, halve, and core pears. Add to pan. Add sugar and vanilla.
3) Cover with parchment paper cut to fit inside the pan with a hole in the center (prevents the pears from getting too colored). Bring to a boil and remove from stove. Allow to cool.

I really like puff pastry. It might also be because I really like butter. However, mixing puff pastry with a nice fruit and the sweet taste of apricot...wowweee. The only downer is that this is definitely not as good the second day. In fact, it gets sort of stale and that's not cool! Or maybe that's just an excuse to eat it all in a day.

xoxo,
lemonie

Single Serving Apple Pies

One of my problems with dessert is that I often can't limit myself to a single serving. I just don't know how to say no. However, when all you have is a single serving, there's not much you can do but savor each bite and wish for more...

So, introducing the single serving pies. I went out to Fish's Eddy during the week and bought a few 4 oz jars (I believe it's this: Kerr 4 oz quilted crystal jelly jars, 12 jars.). Anyway, since I had some free time today and I'm totally procrastinating from finishing the lacework on my nightgown...I decided to make some caramel covered apple pie. Due to my disease, "I like going for 2nds and 3rds without taking a moment to breathe," and b/c I saw cupcakes in jars on etsy yesterday, I put these pies in jars, too. They're incredibly cute! I'm also a big fan of apple pie crust, so the the increase in the crust to pie ratio is always a plus in my book.

I baked 3 pies in jars and put 3 into the freezer to save for later. I ran out of jars so I put one in a ramekin. I'm too embarrassed to show the leftover scraps that I tried to make into an apple empanada. It started oozing in the oven! My lattice on the jar could use some work though...

The great part about the jar is that I can prepare these in advance, put the lid on and throw it into the freezer and when I'm craving some apple pie, I can just bake one up for warm deliciousness.

This also brings me back to preschool days where I learned how to make apple dumplings. It's really easy. Just take one of those cans of biscuit dough, chop up some apples and put a few pieces into the center of one of the dough circles and sprinkle with cinnamon as desired (adding a small amount of sugar might not be a bad idea either!). Then fold the dough in half, pinching the two sides together and use the prongs of a fork to decorate the edge. Pop in oven (don't remember temperature, but 350 degrees sounds about right) and cook until golden brown.

It's 2 AM and I'm insanely tired, but I want to finish this up, so I'll get right down to the real secret to this pie. It's the sauce poured on top of the apples. So use your favorite recipe for pie crust or buy one premade, add in the apples...and on top...

Apple Pie Sauce
1/2 c unsalted butter
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/4 c water
1/2 c white sugar
1/2 c brown sugar

1) Melt butter in saucepan. Add flour and stir. Add water and sugars and raise to boil. Reduce to a simmer for about 5 minutes. Pour over apples.

Note: For these mini pies, I baked at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the top of the crust was golden brown and I could see the apple sauce bubbling.

xoxo,
lemonie