Apple pastries revisited

 

Sometimes you need a really fast but still vaguely respectable breakfast offering for house guests, say, when they're catching a flight out later that morning. Or just a fast way to get yourself a reasonably tasty Sunday breakfast pastry. 

That's what this recipe is good for, along with being a good way to use up apples. If an apple gets a soft spot but is otherwise perfectly firm and viable, I cut off the offending bit, grate up the rest and freeze it. Once I've got a couple of those apple bits, I use them up in these pastries.

I got this recipe years ago from a Pillsbury baking booklet on the shelves of my sister's apartment in the D.C. area. We were staying there for a week while they were on their honeymoon, an arrangement that suited our then very meager budget quite nicely. We didn't have a car and this was way pre-Uber, so other than food we stocked up on before they left, we mostly limited our food shopping to what we could get from the convenience store when we got off the Metro. Pillsbury roll concoctions filled the bill for a nice breakfast before heading off to play tourist after rush hour. (Awesome vacation, by the way, like Airbnb without the bill.)

I've made these countless times over the years since then, but part of me always feels a little sheepish about resorting to premade crescent roll dough (which I swear used to taste better and have better quality control of the slicing). And another part of me felt like this pleasant filling deserved a better shot at pastry bliss. 

I finally got around to trying this with puff pastry dough instead. If you thaw it overnight in the refrigerator, it only adds a few minutes of very well rewarded effort. And I now feel even more sheepish that I haven't tried this sooner, since my freezer is incomplete without at least a partial box of puff pastry.

Apple pastries

Adapted from one of those little Pillsbury baking booklets you see at checkout counters.

Ingredients

1 large apple, peeled and coarsely grated

2 tablespoons raisins

2 tablespoons chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans work well)

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 sheet puff pastry

Beaten egg

Cinnamon sugar for sprinkling

Method

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

If your apple releases a lot of juice, squeeze the moisture out to avoid having mushy pastry. Mix apples, raisins, nuts, cornstarch, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl. (If I prep this the night before, I mix the apples, raisins and nuts and store the mixture covered in the refrigerator. Then I add the dry ingredients in the morning.)

On a lightly floured board, roll puff pastry sheet lightly to smooth out creases and form a square of whatever size you like. Cut pastry into 4 squares. Cut each square in half diagonally, which will leave you with 8 triangles. Transfer pastry to baking sheet.

Place filling in largest, L-shaped corner of the triangle, making sure to leave a clear rim of at least ¼ inch. About 2 tablespoons of filling divides the mixture evenly, depending on how large your apple is.

Brush edges of puff pastry with beaten egg. Fold the two points farthest away from the filling to the L-shaped corner, forming a squarish shape. Leave the diagonal opening unsealed, but pinch together edges well or your filling will ooze in a non-pretty manner.

Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 17 minutes or until puffed, golden brown and the area under the filling looks cooked.

Makes 8 pastries that are fairly smallish, so figure a couple per person unless you’re serving a whole lot more food with it.

Rating: We clearly have proof of concept on this one. For the price of a few minutes and two more dishes to wash, you wind up with pastries that are both pleasant and respectable.

Pillsbury roll method

Prep filling ingredients the same way. When forming the pastries, there’s no need to brush the edges with egg because the premade dough is plenty sticky as it is. Use the beaten egg to brush outside of dough instead so it gets golden brown. Bake at 350 degrees for 13 to 17 minutes.