Apple Roses with Puff Pastry Recipe

landscape view of freshly cooked apple rose with puff pastry

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Apple Roses with Puff Pastry Recipe

These very pretty pastries only need a few common ingredients and they're so simple to make. There’s work in slicing and preparing the apples, but it’s not complex and you’ll be rewarded with flaky, delicious pastries that look like a million bucks.

Prep Time30

Cook Time30

Total Time1

Course: Afternoon Tea, Dessert, Morning Tea

Cuisine: Western

Keyword: apple roses, apple roses with puff pastry, apples, puff pastry, puff pastry roses

Servings:

Calories: 498kcal

Ingredients

2 apples red will give the best colored roses; see notes for recommendations
2 sheets puff pastry all-butter frozen sheets, thawed but cold; see notes
1 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
2 Tbsp powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions

Combi Steam Oven Method

Preheat your oven to Steam, 212°F/100°C (100% humidity). Grease 6 cups of a muffin pan really well, and have a shallow, lightweight stainless steel pan ready for the apple slices.
Cut the pastry into six rectangles (three from each sheet), each measuring roughly 3x10"/8x25cm. Use a very sharp knife and try to cut straight down through the pastry, rather than dragging the knife through it. Cleaner cuts make for puffier layers later on. Return the pastry to the fridge while you prepare the apples.
2 sheets puff pastry
Cut each apple in half through the core. Remove the core, then slice the halves very thinly using a sharp knife or a mandolin. You want the slices to be not quite paper thin, but almost. As you cut, keep the slices together. Get your oven pan, and spread out the slices in rows, overlapping each slice, until you have 6 rows of overlapped apple, each 10"/25cm long. You'll likely have some apple left over, so use the 'best' slices cut from the larger parts of each apple for your rows, and snack on the rest while you work.
2 apples
Put the apples into the preheated oven for 5 minutes. No longer! You're aiming just to par-cook it long enough that it's pliable and able to be rolled up without breaking. Remove the pan from the oven and change your oven settings to Combi Steam, 375°F/190°C, 50% (med) humidity.
While the apples cool down, mix the cinnamon and granulated sugar in a small bowl. Remove the pastry from the fridge and sprinkle cinnamon sugar over half of each rectangle, running longways.
1 tsp cinnamon, 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
Carefully lift each row of cooled apple slices and lay it on top of the cinnamon sugar pastry. The lower half of each pastry rectangle will be uncovered, with the rounded (skin side) edges of the apples lying above the top edge of the pastry. See photos for examples. Fold the other half of the pastry up over the apples, so you have a long, skinny double layer of pastry, with the apples and sugar inside it.
Roll up each pastry rose, so you've got little pinwheels of pastry-apple-pastry. Press the edge of the pastry down when you get to the end, to make a neat finish, then put each apple rose, fruit side up, into your greased muffin pan.
Bake the apple roses until the pastry is puffed and golden brown, about 25-30 minutes. The tops of the apples will start to brown in the last few minutes of cooking, but don't be tempted to pull them too early as the pastry in the centers takes a while to cook through.
Dust the hot apple roses with powdered sugar and serve barely warm or at room temperature.
2 Tbsp powdered sugar

Conventional Oven Method

Preheat your oven to 400°F/200°C. Grease 6 cups of a muffin pan really well and set aside.
Cut the pastry into six rectangles (three from each sheet), each measuring roughly 3x10"/8x25cm. Use a very sharp knife and try to cut straight down through the pastry, rather than dragging the knife through it. Cleaner cuts make for puffier layers later on. Return the pastry to the fridge while you prepare the apples.
2 sheets puff pastry
Cut each apple in half through the core. Remove the core, then slice the halves very thinly using a sharp knife or a mandolin. You want the slices to be not quite paper thin, but almost. As you cut, drop each slice into a bowl which has cold water and a squeeze of lemon juice added, to keep the fruit from turning brown.
2 apples
When you're done slicing the apples, drain the lemon water off them and put the bowl into the microwave. Cook on medium-high power for 2-3 minutes, just until the apple slices are a little bendy and pliable. As soon as they're cool enough to handle, arrange the slices in long, overlapping rows so you have 6 rows of apple, each 10"/25cm long. You'll likely have some apple left over, so use the 'best' slices cut from the larger parts of each apple for your rows, and snack on the rest while you work.
Mix the cinnamon and granulated sugar in a small bowl. Remove the pastry from the fridge and sprinkle cinnamon sugar over half of each rectangle, running longways.
1 tsp cinnamon, 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
Carefully lift each row of apple slices and lay it on top of the cinnamon sugar pastry. The lower half of each pastry rectangle will be uncovered, with the rounded (skin side) edges of the apples lying above the top edge of the pastry. See photos for examples. Fold the other half of the pastry up over the apples, so you have a long, skinny double layer of pastry, with the apples and sugar inside it.
Roll up each pastry rose, so you've got little pinwheels of pastry-apple-pastry. Press the edge of the pastry down when you get to the end, to make a neat finish, then put each apple rose, fruit side up, into your greased muffin pan.
Bake the apple roses until the pastry is puffed and golden brown, about 30-35 minutes. The tops of the apples will start to brown in the last few minutes of cooking, but don't be tempted to pull them too early as the pastry in the centers takes a while to cook through. If the apple is getting burnt, cover the pan with a loose layer of foil and move it to a lower shelf of the oven.
Dust the hot apple roses with powdered sugar and serve barely warm or at room temperature.
2 Tbsp powdered sugar

Notes

Puff pastry sheets: I use an all-butter frozen supermarket puff for this recipe. It comes in square sheets measuring approximately 10"/25cm. You'll need two sheets of this size for the recipe, each cut into thirds.
Apples: For the photographed apple roses I used an apple variety called Bravo, which is widely available in Australia. I chose it because it cooks beautifully and doesn't brown as quickly as other varieties once cut. If you're in other parts of the world, look for a red-skinned apple with good eating qualities. As well as the Bravo apples, I love Pink Ladies for apple roses.
Cinnamon sugar substitutes: If you don't want cinnamon apple vibes, you can use a smear of apricot or raspberry jam across the pastry instead. If you go this route, don't use too much jam. It'll bubble up and ooze out of the pastry during cooking, which isn't very pretty.

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