Believe me, I’ve looked and looked… and looked. It’s incredibly hard to find a dessert so pretty yet so simple to make. Even more amazing is how these pretty dainty apple tarts are even more delicious than they are pretty. It’s one of the things you must try. These tarts are slightly sweet and tart with the deliciousness apple taste and the lightness of puff pastry. The slight bite of the apples, crumbly puff pastry and slightly crunchy caramelized bottom create fantastic texture combinations.
It all starts with a delicious apple, sliced then cooked with sugar and lime juice until softened. Wrap the apple slices in strips of cinnamon sugar sprinkled puff pastry and bake. Voila! It’s not often that an entire recipe can be summarized in 2 sentences.
Cut an apple in half, de-core the halves then slice the apple. The apple slices are about 1/8″ thick, which gives them a nice bite.
Gently boil the apple slices with 2 teaspoon sugar, juice of 1/2 a lime and enough water to cover the apple slices. Cook for about 5-10 minutes in a very gentle boil until the apples are soft enough to be easily bent. Definitely don’t overcook the apples or they will become mushy.
Slightly dry the apple slices on a paper towel so they don’t dampen the pastry too much.
Cut the thawed puff pastry into strips then sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar. Lay the apple slices in slightly overlapping layer on top of the pastry strips. About half of each apple slice will be overhanging the pastry strip. Make sure to leave a 1/2″ pastry at the end un-covered by apple, it will be used to seal up the pin-wheel at the end.
Roll the pastry and apple slices very loosely. Then slightly wet the bare pastry strip at the end and press it into the pastry wheel to seal. Optionally, you can slightly turn the top of the pastry and apple slices outwards a bit so they will bloom better when baked.
Bake at 400F in ramekins for about 30 minutes until puff pastry is golden. Grate some fragrant lime zest on top of pastry. You can’t tell from the picture, but the bottom of the pastries are slightly caramelized and crunchy, which gives it fantastic flavor and texture.
Remember that pot of water with lime juice and sugar that we used to cook the apple slices? Bingo! Dip a tea bag in there turns it into a delicious cup of apple lime tea. Or add in a few ice cubes and it becomes an apple lime-ade. Perfect companion to the hot out of the oven apple rose tarts.
[recipe]Makes 5 individual tarts • adapted from Rita’s blog
[ingredients]
- 1 Apple
- 1/2 Lime
- 2 Teaspoon Sugar
- 2 Teaspoon Cinnamon Sugar (sugar with a sprinkling of ground cinnamon)
- 1 Sheet Puff Pastry thawed
[directions]
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- Cut apple in half and de-core. Slice apple into 1/8″ thick slices.
- Cook apple slices with 2 Tsp sugar and juice of 1/2 lime in enough water to cover the apple slices. Cook in very gently boiling water for about 5-10 minutes until the apple slices are soft enough to bend easily.
- While the apple slices are cooking, cut the pastries into strips about 1 to 1.5″ wide, depending on the size of the roses you want. Then sprinkle cinnamon sugar over the strips.
- When the apples are done, dry them slightly on a paper towel so they don’t drip. Lay the apple slices in slightly overlapping layer on top of the pastry strips. About half of each apple slice will be overhanging the pastry strip. Make sure to leave a 1/2″ pastry at the end un-covered by apple, it will be used to seal up the pin-wheel at the end.
- Roll the pastry and apple slices very loosely. Then slightly wet the bare pastry strip at the end and press it into the pastry wheel to seal. Optionally, you can slightly turn the top of the pastry and apple slices outwards a bit so they will bloom better when baked.
- Bake at 400F in ramekins for about 30 minutes until puff pastry is golden. Grate some fragrant lime zest on top of pastry before serving.
Enjoy the pastries with a cup of Apple Lime Tea!
[/recipe]