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Fall is here and winter is on its way! I don’t know what it is about cold weather but it makes me want to cook and bake at home. Especially when I can treat my friends and family to freshly baked goods!
SEE ALSO: Queen’s Park Swizzle Cocktail Recipe
Today I’m making mini apple pies – but these are not your ordinary apple pies. They’re layered apple pies shaped in the form of rose blossoms. These artful desserts are actually easier than they look with the help of one essential ingredient… ANGOSTURA® aromatic bitters.
What are bitters you ask? Bitters are an elixir made with a blend of barks, roots, herbs, spices, and botanicals, commonly used to enhance flavors and provide balance within classic and contemporary cocktails. Bitters pack a punch of flavor in each dash, making them a great way to pull together a range of food and drink recipes. They add another level of complexity and intensity to dishes from sweet to savory.
I used ANGOSTURA aromatic bitters in these rose apple pies. Typically, apple pie is too cloyingly sweet for me, but with the addition of ANGOSTURA aromatic bitters, the yield is a medley of fall spices and apple, without all the added sugar. Just by itself, ANGOSTURA aromatic bitters smells like cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, and clove – all the flavors of fall I love.
[tasty-recipe id=”20463″]
Mini Rose Apple Pies STEP-BY-STEP
The rose apple pies were tricky to figure out, so it took me a couple of times to test this recipe, but I landed on a simple way to bring them to life without a ton of ingredients and materials…
WHAT YOU NEED:
- 5 – 6 apples, depending on how big they are. I used Pink Lady apples because they’re smaller and they tend to retain their shape in baking.
- 15 dashes of ANGOSTURA® aromatic bitters
- 3 sheets of puff pastry
- lemon
- 9 tbsp of brown sugar
- ground cinnamon
- caramel syrup (optional)
- ice cream (optional)
1. Preheat your oven to 400°F.
2. Cut the apples into quarters and remove the core and stem. Using a mandoline slicer, carefully slice apple quarters into thin slices. You can also use a knife to cut the apples into thin slices, but a mandoline ensures the slices have a consistent thickness.
3. Add apple slices to a large bowl. Squeeze lemon over apple slices, add ANGOSTURA bitters, brown sugar and ground cinnamon (I’m not specifying a specific amount because some people love cinnamon and some don’t!). Toss to mix and set aside to marinate while you’re preparing the puff pastry.
TIP: The longer the apples sit in the sugar mixture, the softer they’ll be and easier to roll in the puff pastry. However, try not to let sit longer than 15 minutes, to avoid oxidizing the apples and therefore causing them to brown.
4. Unroll puff pastry sheets and slice each sheet into four strips (my puff pastry strips were 9″ x 2.25″).
5. Place seven to eight apple slices on the puff pastry strip above the middle so the apple slices stick out. Fold over the puff pastry and press down to seal. Carefully roll the strip into a rose. Repeat for all of the puff pastry strips.
6. Spray cupcake pan with non-stick oil and add apple roses.
7. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. When the pies are slightly browned and the puff pastry has puffed up, they’re done.
8. Serve mini rose apple pies right out of the oven with a drizzle of caramel and scoop(s) of your favorite flavor of ice cream!
