Baked Apple Roses

These Baked Apple Roses are so impressive looking and super easy to make!

Puff pastry makes these nice and flaky, and the apricot preserves or apple jelly add a hint of sweetness to keep the apple flavor going.

Ingredients:

Half a package puff pastry sheets (1 sheet), thawed

2 red apples

2 tablespoons lemon juice (from 1/2 lemon)

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, to sprinkle on the counter

3 tablespoons apricot preserves or apple jelly

1 Tablespoon or as needed, ground cinnamon (or sugar/cinnamon mix as I prefer)

Powdered sugar for topping (optional)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

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. Leave the peel so it will give the red color to your roses.

Place the sliced apples in the bowl so that they won't change color.

Microwave the apples in the bowl for about 3 minutes, to make them slightly softer and easy to roll. The apple slices should be cooked just enough to bend without breaking. If they break, you need to cook them a little more.

While apples are cooking, prepare muffin pan with butter and flour or baking spray. No need to grease the muffin mold if it is silicone.

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 inches.

Cut the dough in 6 strips, each about 2 x 9 inches.

In a bowl, place three tablespoons of apricot preserves with two tablespoons of water or if using apple jelly, spread as is – do not add water. Microwave for about one minute so that the preserves or jelly will be easier to spread. Spread a thin layer of preserves or jelly on each strip of dough.

Drain the apples. Pat apples dry to keep dough from getting wet and sticky when rolling. Arrange the apple slices on the dough, overlapping one another. Make sure the top (skin side) of the slices sticks only slightly out of the strip.

Sprinkle with cinnamon or sugar / cinnamon mix.

Fold up the bottom part of the dough.

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.

Do the same for all 6 roses.

Bake for about 40-45 minutes, until fully cooked. For best results, 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 also cover loosely with aluminum foil for these last 10-15 minutes, to avoid burning the top.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired, and enjoy!