Credit: I took some of these photos when my friend Carol Downes served them at her home
For 10-12 apple roses you need
Approximately 8 apples
50ml lemon juice
One pack store bought filo pastry (from frozen section)
Yoghurt mix for pastry, mix the following:
200ml plain yoghurt
100ml olive or canola oil
100ml water
OR
250ml melted butter
For the apple and nut filling
3 of the above apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks
25ml honey or sugar
5ml ground cinnamon
100g hazel or pecan or walnuts, coarsely chopped
A squeeze of lemon juice
To prepare
Use a regular muffin pan. Spray well with non-stick baking spray.
Set oven at 180°C
Defrost the filo by leaving it out of the freezer for a few hours.
The filling
Place the prepared apples in a stainless steel saucepan or a microwaveable bowl
Add the honey (or sugar), cinnamon and lemon juice
If using a saucepan add 25ml water
Cover and heat, stirring occasionally, until the apple has stewed and breaks apart
Stir in the nuts and set aside to cool
To handle the filo correctly follow the HOW TO tips here: Filo
To prepare the roses
Wash the apples and remove the core using an apple corer
Cut the apples in half
Slice each half into 2-3mm slices (they must be thin and flexible)
Place the sliced apples on a plate and sprinkle the lemon juice over
Cut the filo sheets lengthwise into 4 strips
Keep them covered with a damp cloth
Sandwich 2 strips together with a painted layer of yoghurt mix or melted butter between
Spoon a 2cm thick line of filling down the centre of the pastry strip.
Paint the side facing you with the mix again and now layer the apples overlapping with the peel edge extending about 5mm over the cut side of the pastry! Please refer to the photo!
Fold the pastry in half, with the overlapping apples extending. Paint the surface with the yoghurt mix or butter.
Roll it up
Place rolls in muffin pan, don’t worry about creating a ‘rose’ as it forms naturally when it bakes.
Bake at 180°C for 20 minutes
Remove from muffin pan to cool. If they cool in the pan they can become soggy!
To serve dust with icing sugar
I like to serve them straight from the oven, so if you like you can pop them back into the oven for 10 minutes to heat.
A spoonful of cream is all you need. Add a dusting of cinnamon on the cream. For adults you can add a dash of brandy to the cream
