So, the other day I got inspired, and looked up a bunch of recipes to try out these apple roses. There are several ways you can prepare them. You can make your own dough or, like I did, use store bought frozen puff pastry. It’s much easier and a lot quicker!

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All you have to do is defrost the dough, and stretch it out a bit. You want to make sure it’s not too thick, or it might not cook properly.  I spread the dough with apricot preserve, but you could also use peach, plum … or what you like. Slice the apples really thin.

Cook to make them softer and easier to work with. And then just have fun with rolling the dough with the apples, like my pictures down here will show you.

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And for all the cinnamon lovers out there, don’t forget to sprinkle your apples with as much (or as little) cinnamon as you wish.
You will be surprised by how easy is to make this simply beautiful dessert. Ready to try it out?

Here is my video recipe:

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Ingredients: to make 6 roses

• 1 sheet of Pepperidge Farm puff pastry, thawed
• 2 red apples (I used red delicious)
• juice of half lemon
• 1 tablespoon of flour, to sprinkle the counter
• 3 tablespoons of apricot preserve
• cinnamon
• powdered sugar for decorating (optional)

Preparation time: about 20 minutes to prepare, plus 45 minutes to bake
Directions:
1. Thaw the puff pastry at room temperature if you haven’t done so yet. It should take about 20-30 minutes.
2. Prepare a bowl half filled with water and the lemon juice. Cut the apples in half, remove the core and cut the apples in paper-thin slices, as shown in my picture. Leave the peel so it will give the red color to your roses. Right away, place the sliced apples in the bowl so that they won’t change color.

3. Microwave the apples in the bowl for about 3 minutes, to make them slightly softer and easy to roll.  If you prefer, you can also simmer the apple slices with the water in a small pan (on the stove). The apple slices should be cooked just enough to bend without breaking. If they break, you need to cook them a little more.

4. Unwrap the puff pastry over a clean and lightly floured counter. Using a rolling pin stretch the dough into a rectangular shape of about 12 x 9 inch (30 x 22 cm). Cut the dough in 6 strips, each about 2 x 9 inch (5 x 22 cm).

5. In a bowl, place three tablespoons of apricot preserve with two tablespoons of water. Microwave for about one minute (or warm up on the stove) so that the preserve will be easier to spread. Spread a thin layer of preserve on each strip of dough.

6. Preheat the oven to 375º F (190 º C). Drain the apples.

7. Arrange the apple slices on the dough, overlapping one another, as shown in my picture. Make sure the top (skin side) of the slices sticks a little out of the strip. Sprinkle with cinnamon

8. Fold up the bottom part of the dough.

9. Starting from one end, carefully roll the dough, keeping the apple slices in place. Seal the edge at the end, pressing with your finger, and place in a regular muffin cup. No need to grease the muffin mold if it’s silicone. Otherwise, make sure to grease with butter and flour (or spay).

10. Do the same for all 6 roses. Bake at 375 º F (190 º C) for about 40-45 minutes, until fully cooked.

NOTES: Make sure the pastry is fully cooked on the inside before removing the roses from the oven! If after the first 30 minutes the apples start to burn on top, move the pan to a lower rack of the oven and finish baking. You can also cover loosely with aluminum foil for these last 10-15 minutes, to avoid burning the top.

These are best eaten right after baking, when still warm and crisp.