Cook with Us #22 - Apple Roses
I have not had a very good week as one of my closest friends currently is on life support and the outlook is not very good.
The reason I'm mentioning it here is that I hope what I'm going to share with you will help someone as this affects many many people today.
My dearest friend has for years been afflicted with clinical depression, on and off, which brought about real scary panic attacks.
I will keep it short and sweet, but as a result of not consulting a specialist, her previous episode lasted 18 months. Only two weeks after seeing a psychiatrist who managed to get her onto the correct medication, she was back to her old cheerful self.
However, those 18 months of panic attacks obviously did major damage to her heart, and this time when the depression and panic attacks returned due to her cutting back on the meds too fast - of her own accord - she suffered a massive heart attack, fortunately whilst in hospital and she was revived, but the prognosis is bad.
Why bring this into my CWU post?
If you know of anyone going through depression, please urge them to see a specialist, take up yoga, learn to meditate, whatever route they want to take - but not to go it alone! There is help all around.
I did a post many months ago about this, here is the link if you wish to read it.
But back to the kitchen and CWU #22 - I find cooking and baking to be great therapy, so a huge shout out to the awesome Cook with Us team - @chefsteve , @pandamama and @offoodandart for Cook with us #22 - Pies and Tarts as pastry is one of my favourite bakes and I really got stuck in this week!
I first made a savoury pie - Asparagus & Leek - but left it in the oven too long and although this tasted fabulous, it was not the desired light golden brown it was meant to be!
Then I started thinking of Apple Pie, my favourite comfort dessert - served with Cream, Custard, thick double cream Greek Yogurt or even Ice Cream.
What do you eat with your Apple Pie?
I have many apple pie recipes -
- Apple Crumble - a rich sweet Shortcrust Pastry filled with Apples, Cinnamon & Sugar with a crumbly nutty topping
- Apple Danish Pastry - Puff Pastry filled with Apples, Cinnamon & Sugar and topped with a caramel sauce
- Apple Butterscotch Tart - Apples baked inside a sponge cake layer and topped with a rich butterscotch sauce
- German Apple Strudel - an unleavened dough rolled super thin, filled with Apples, Lemon Zest, Raisins & Almonds, sprinkled with....you've guessed right - cinnamon & sugar and rolled up like a Swiss roll.
However, I've decided to make pretty Apple Roses for this challenge.
I've used a feather light flaky pastry made with frozen grated butter, lemon juice, egg yolk & soda water. Strips of pastry gets brushed with melted butter, sprinkled with cinnamon & sugar, thin apple slices placed along pastry, then rolled up, pastry given an egg glaze and baked in muffin pans. Simpler you cannot get, but it is absolutely delicious.
This recipe requires staple pantry ingredients and is real easy to put together and looks beautiful.
INGREDIENTS:
Pastry
- 200 gram frozen Butter
- 500ml Cake Wheat Flour
- 2ml Salt
- 1 Egg yolk
- 15ml Lemon Juice
- Soda Water - add to egg yolk & Lemon Juice to make 125ml liquid
Filling
- 6 Apples - halved & thinly sliced
- Cinnamon Sugar to taste
- 100 gram melted Butter
- 1 whole Egg - beaten
- Castor Sugar for sprinkling afterwards
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The golden rule with pastry - ingredients must be ice cold
- Grate Butter into sifted flour & salt
- Add liquids & mix to a firm pastry dough, flatten into a rectangle
- Refrigerate overnight - remove from fridge about an hour before use
Red Apples halved & sliced super thinly across (with peels on), placed into microwave for about 45 seconds so it gets limp - otherwise it will break when rolling up, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.
Roll pastry out thinly & cut into strips - approx 36 x 6cm - the one in my pic had to be trimmed some more
Brush with melted butter & sprinkle with cinnamon sugar
Arrange apple slices overlapping on one edge & peeping out of pastry
Fold over bottom strip of pastry to just cover apple slices, brush with egg wash
Roll up carefully to make a pretty rose & give pastry an egg wash
Bake in muffin pans at 160 C fan oven on lower shelf for about 30-40 minutes - pastry has to be cooked right through.
Nothing as ghastly as raw gooey pastry
A light dusting of castor sugar to finish it off.
Buttery Pastry beautifully cooked underneath with caramelized sugar & cinnamon - no soggy bottom
Cut in half revealing the apples and nicely cooked pastry
Beautiful & delicious Apple Roses served on a platter
And as always for the busy bodies - a quick look at the how-to:
Hope to see your Pies or Tarts entries here
Thank you for stopping by
Comments, upvotes & resteems all much appreciated :)
Copyright @lizelle - All Rights Reserved
Absolutely gorgeous!!!! I've seen those before! :) and yours came out picture perfect
As far as apple pie - i really love it alone! i love to taste the flaky buttery crust, the cinnamony goodness of the apples and that yummy syrup - to die for!!! heheheeh
delish!
as far as your friend - i'm so terribly sorry to hear about all that. Depression is bad enough but then the marks that it leaves behind on the body (not just the mind).... tragedy upon tragedy
Thank you for shining the light on this... I'm sorry for your friend <3
Thank you for your lovely comments @dreemsteem, you're spot-on with the apple pie and the tragedy of depression!
By the way, we had our apple roses just like that - no cream or anything else! The cinnamon sugar was all caramelised and added to the crispy crust, yummyliscious ;)
Very nice post @lizelle. I absolutely loved the way you’ve crafted the rose out of the apples. Very skilful and very lovely dessert indeed.
It was a challenge but it's actually real easy @foodforsoul, thanks for your feedback :) Yours was amazing as always!
Those are simply exquisite! I really must find time to try this recipe. There's an apple tree in the garden of the climbing centre I go to absolutely loaded with delicious apples that no one seems to want. They are quite an unusual Scottish variety, quite tart tasting but aromatic, with red flesh as well as skin. I'll have to ask the climbing centre if they can spare a few.
I'm so sorry about your dear friend's suffering. Depression is so difficult to deal with, and the depressed person often refuses help and seems to want to retreat within themselves. But making it clear that you're there for them is, as you say, the best thing you can do. I suspect - and I have absolutely no proof for this - that many heart conditions are connected with emotional sadness and "broken heart" feelings. I wish your friend the best.
Thank you so much for your great feedback @natubat, I'm sure those will be perfect as the tart tasting apples usually are great for baking, but I've never seen apples with red flesh. Let me know how yours turns out.
My friend is slowly coming off the ventilator so we're hoping and praying she's going to prove the doctors wrong - interesting theory you have, could very well be something in it!
Thanks for your good wishes - I will be writing about her again, and I hope it's going to be continued improvement :)
I'm praying for a good recovery for your friend.
Those look delicious Lizelle. Sorry to hear about your friend , this week has been really a tough one for some of us folks, one of Mrs. Pappers best friends had a stroke on Thursday, the lady is 39 years old. They don't know the extent of all her damage yet or if she will completely recover.
Our prayers lists just keep getting longer.
Good advice you have given and I read that article when you first posted it, I highly recommend as a must read.
Thank you for that mr Papper and so sorry to hear about your wife's friend, she's still so young! Same with us, our prayer list gets longer each day, just so many friends that are ill at the moment.
Linda's a real fighter, her BP & heart rate was better yesterday but she's now picked up an infection so is in isolation. The worst is her husband is partially disabled, had a car accident many years ago, not sure what he's going to do if she does not make it. Plus he just lost his Mom a month ago, it's just so tragic!
When it rains it pours it seems , we just have to keep the prayers and let it run the course.
Thank you for your encouragement mr Papper!
Mr Papper, good news! Linda's daughters got to the hospital this morning to see the ventilator out, were told there's been a huge turnaround, her eyes were open and she's fully aware of everything! Got too excited when she saw them & needed the ventilator again, but her prospects are looking tons better, so thankful:) We continue praying for her full recovery!
That is great news , the power of prayer really does work, no matter what religion it is affiliated with.
Hi lizelle,
Visit curiesteem.com or join the Curie Discord community to learn more.
Wow thank you @curie, really appreciate this!
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FOR TSE: When I told The Weasel I needed a picture of the apples for our cover, he looked and looked and couldn't find the apples. He thought these were cinnamon buns. Whatever ... they're gorgeous!
LOL...sorry @catweasel for making you search like that, wish I could have given you both an Apple Rose or two! If you like Apple pie, you would really enjoy this! Such an honour to be on the cover, thank you :)
By the way my friend is slowly improving day by day - a week ago we were all saying our goodbyes, she's truly a miracle!
So sorry to hear about your friend. I remember you talking about her while we were there. Hopefully it works out. It's always so sad to hear how seriously depression can affect a person. Just wish there was more awareness around it. Lots of hugs and love xxx
Thanks @jusipassetti, it's been a huge shock, and awareness really is much needed which is why I spoke about it here! We're praying for a miracle for Linda, she's a real fighter, doctors did not think she'd make it through Friday night!
Hi Jusi, Linda's had a major turnaround today, check my response to @pandamama, so thankful! Ouma said she's still going to talk her hubby's ears off :)
Wow @lizelle this is absolutely beautiful! I would say that this is your best work yet! I am very happy that you received some big upvotes too! They are well earned. Also, sorry to hear about your friend's situation. Best of luck.
Thank you so much @chefsteve, they were delicious too! And such amazingly good news about my friend - there's been a major turnaround in her condition - Friday her family were told to say their goodbyes, they've been saying goodbye all weekend but then since yesterday things started changing, so very thankful, we just keep on praying that she continues getting stronger :) She's a real fighter!
I am so sorry to read that bad news, hopefully recover from that crisis, this makes me think that here in Venezuela we are living through a terrible crisis, which leads us to depression almost without realizing it, I started going to therapy, thanks to God I'm not cured but at least I'm coming out of that depressive state, and that is not easy, to face a patient with cancer, the odyssey of looking for medicines, to overcome the disease and when we thought everything would happen, my husband gave himself to the disease and died, then I lose my job and loneliness overwhelms me, thanks to this network of steemit I have been able to move forward, learning and sharing my ideas with you, Well I return your recipe I congratulate you for your creative roses, they look beautiful and also tasty, thanks for that step by step of the preparation of such an excellent menu simply spectacular, greetings and everything will improve @liselle
Ah thank you @perlanacarada, so sorry to hear about your situation and good to hear the steemit network is helping you! At least we have access to medicine, can't imagine how difficult it is for you over there. Take care of yourself!