Apple Roses Puff Pastry
Delicate puff pastry wrapped around paper-thin apple slices that bake into romantic rose shapes. Subtly spiced with cinnamon and sweetened with apricot preserves, these showstopping pastries are deceptively simple to create.
Ingredients
- 1 package 2 sheets puff pastry, thawed according to package directions
- 3 medium red apples Pink Lady or Honeycrisp work beautifully for their color and sweetness
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 3 tablespoons apricot preserves or jam
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter melted
- Powdered sugar for dusting optional
Instructions
- Prepare your workspace by preheating your oven to 375°F (190°C) and lightly greasing a 6-cup muffin tin with butter or cooking spray.
- Fill a large bowl halfway with water and add the lemon juice – this prevents the apple slices from browning.
- Core and halve each apple (no need to peel) and slice them very thinly using a sharp knife – the thinner your slices, the more flexible and rose-like they’ll be.
- Immediately place apple slices in the lemon water and microwave for about 3 minutes until slices are slightly soft and bendable but not mushy. Drain and pat dry gently with paper towels.
- Mix cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl and set aside.
- Roll out the puff pastry sheets on a lightly floured surface and cut each sheet into 3 equal strips, approximately 3 inches wide by 12 inches long, giving you 6 strips total.
- Heat the apricot preserves with water in the microwave for 30 seconds until fluid, then strain if chunky and brush this mixture across each puff pastry strip.
- Sprinkle each strip with cinnamon sugar evenly across the surface.
- Arrange apple slices along the upper half of each pastry strip, overlapping slightly with the skin side extending just beyond the pastry edge – this creates the rose petal effect.
- Fold the bottom half of the pastry up over the bottom of the apple slices, then gently roll each strip from one end to the other, creating a rose shape.
- Place each rose in the muffin tin and brush tops lightly with melted butter.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and fully cooked at the center.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the tin, then carefully remove and transfer to a wire rack.
- Dust with powdered sugar just before serving if desired.
Notes
- The key to perfect Apple Roses Puff Pastry is slicing the apples paper-thin. A mandoline works well but isn’t necessary if you have good knife skills.
- Don’t skip the microwaving step – it makes the apple slices pliable enough to roll without breaking.
- You can make these a day ahead and reheat in a 300°F oven for 5-7 minutes to crisp them up again.
- These pastries are best eaten the day they’re made but will keep for 2 days in an airtight container.
- For extra flavor, add a tiny pinch of cardamom or nutmeg to the cinnamon-sugar mixture.