Baked Apples in Pastry

Submitted by I'mPat

"I would like to thank BusyMomof3 for this little treasure in Sugar Free Cooking cookbook that she sent me in the recent cookbook swap. TIP - for an extra rich pastry, use 1 egg yolk and half the amount of water in this recipe. VARIATION - Use pears instead of apples in the recipe. FREEZING - These apples freeze well after baking and should be thawed and then re-heated before eating."

 

• Ready In: 55mins
• Ingredients: 12
• Yields: 6 Pastry Apples
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄3 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3⁄4 cup butter
• 6 -8 tablespoons ice water
• 6 apples (medium sized dessert)
• 6 prunes (pitted)
• 6 dried apricots
• 2 1⁄2 tablespoons raisins
• 1 egg (beaten to glaze)
• cream (to serve)
• mint leaf (to serve)

directions

1. Preaheat oven to 350F (160C fan forced, 175C conventional).
2. Sift the flour, salt and spices into a large bowl.
3. Cut the butter into dice and rub into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs (I would use a food processor on pulse to do this).
4. Mix in enought water to produce a smooth pliable dough.
5. Divide the dough into six pieces and roll out into a square approximately 8 inches.
6. Peel the apples with a sharp knife and carefully remove the centre cores with a apple corer.
7. Chop the prunes and the apricots and mix these with the raisins.
8. Place oe prepared apple into the centre of each pastry square, and fill the cavities with equal amounts of the dried fruit mixture.
9. Brush the edges of each square with a little water and draw them up and around the sides of the apples, sealing them well with a little water and trimming off the excess pastry to give a neat finish.
10. Roll out the pastry trimmings =, cut into decorative leaves and stick the leaves onto each apples for decoration.
11. Glaze each pastry apple with the beaten egg and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet.
12. Bake the apples in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.
13. Serve hot with the fresh cream and sprigs of fresh mint.

Reviews

[Lalaloula]

Oh wow, this recipe is fantastic! It is a true dream dessert! So easy to make and super yummy! I loved the melted apple filling with the dried fruit bits and the flakey crust on the outside! YUM! I made half the recipe using whole spelt flour and only 1/4 cup margarine in the dough. As I was out of apricots, I just added some almonds to the filling, which I normally put into my baked apples. It turned out really, really yummy and I felt so special eating this. :) THANK YOU SO MUCH for sharing such a keeper with us, Pat. This is now on my holiday company is coming food list.<br/>Made and reviewed for WTTM November 2011.