Tag Archives: Maple Butter

Apple Maple Rose Tarts

I would describe myself as having perseverant tendencies. Perseverance refers to the drive and determination to complete a project or task, regardless of how long it takes or how many setbacks you experience along the way. Perseverance is not giving up.

I had seen these apple rose tarts all over Instagram for a while now. They have been on my must-make list for several months. I finally got around to trying them a few weeks ago. There are many versions on this theme, but they all boil down to this basic process: thinly slice apples and cook them until slightly pliable, but not mushy. Cut strips of store bought puff pastry, spread with jam and roll the thinly sliced apples up in the pastry, to form a “rose”. Bake until done.

I believe the original recipe was created by Manuela Mazzocco. Check out her reel on Instagram to see how she makes them.

Armed with several pounds of all-butter frozen puff pastry, and about 20 pounds of apples I got to work. I ran into two main roadblocks. The first problem was that the pastry in the centre of the rose never got fully cooked. Raw puff pastry is ~~disgusting~~ not pleasant to eat. If I baked the roses longer, the outside of the pastry burned. The second issue I had was that the thinly sliced apples burned at the edges because puff pastry needs a hot oven and at least 30-40 minutes to bake.

I tried rolling the strips tighter, then looser, baked them in muffin tins and individual ceramic ramekins and even tried baking them upside down. While my husband happily ate all the mistakes, I continued to persevere. I had to figure this out.

Eventually I wondered if I could just form the apple rose without rolling it up in pastry. Once the rose was formed, I just wrapped the exterior in a circle of puff pastry. Success. Check out my video to see how I did it.

Here is what I discovered in my journey:

You can thinly slice the apples by hand with a very sharp knife and some good knife skills, but it is much easier and you will get much more consistent results with a mandoline.

Firm white fleshed apples, such as Cortland or Empire apples, produce the prettiest roses. Honeycrisp apples are also good, although their flesh is a bit more yellow than the snowy white interior of the Cortland or Empire. I added a few drops of pink gel food colouring to the cooking water. It gave the white fleshed apples a beautiful pale pink tint.

Defrost puff pastry overnight in the refrigerator. Chill your softened apples before forming the roses and wrapping them in the puff pastry. Hot or warm apples on cold puff pastry are a poor combination.

When rolling out the thawed puff pastry, flour your work surface and rolling pin and roll gently.

Try brushing the puff pastry with maple butter instead of jam. Maples and apple are a yummy combo.

Just as you would dot the top of an apple pie with butter, brush the tops of the roses with some melted butter and a good sprinkling of cinnamon-sugar before they hit the oven.

Pop the assembled tarts into the freezer for 10 minutes before baking. That will firm up the butter in the puff pastry and giving you extra flaky layers.

Start the tarts in a 425°F oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375°F. The intense heat will jumpstart the baking.

Make little foil hats for all the apples. Those thinly sliced apples are delicate and you want to protect them.

A light dusting with icing sugar once they are cool, makes them extra pretty and sweet.

Leftovers keep for 1-2 days, on the counter, uncovered. If you wrap them, they will sweat and the pastry will get soggy.

A scoop of salted caramel ice cream is a welcome accompaniment.

Click here to print recipe for Maple Apple Rose Tarts.

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Maple Walnut Rugelach

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My appreciation for walnuts has come to me relatively late in life. I used to hate them. Biting into a walnut always sent a shiver up and down my spine. But, as I have aged, I have come to appreciate the bitter nature of walnuts. That astringent note in walnuts comes from the tannins found in the paper-thin skin that covers the walnut.

That bitterness is a perfect counterpoint to all the sweet notes in these rugelach. The dough is tender and flaky, thanks to the addition of cream cheese. And, it rolls out so easily, no cracking. You can roll the dough into a circle and cut it into wedges for a crescent shaped rugelach, or you can roll it into a rectangle and roll it up into a log for circular cookies. Your choice. The video below shows both variations. I show you a neat little trick for getting your rugelach all exactly the same size.

The dough is spread with maple butter. Maple butter actually contains no butter. It is just maple syrup boiled until very thick and then whipped to a creamy spreadable consistency. Many supermarkets cary it or you can buy it online. Sometimes it is called maple cream.

The walnuts in the filling are candied first in maple syrup which is easily done in the oven. Complete directions are in the recipe. Brush them with egg white before they hit the oven.

And because we’re fancy around here, I glazed the finished rugelach with a maple-lemon glaze.

Click here to print recipe for Maple-Walnut-Rugelach Download

Maple Pecan Hamentashen

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Hamentashen are the traditional treat baked for the Jewish holiday of Purim, which, this year, falls on Thursday March 1. The Festival of Purim commemorates a time when the Jewish people living in ancient (4th century BCE) Persia were saved from extermination.

The celebration of Purim will be bitter-sweet for me this year. Sweet because, well…. Hamentashen! Bitter because this will be my first Purim without my Aunt Carol. She passed away, suddenly, a few weeks ago. She is actually my husband’s aunt, but from the very first time I met her, over 36 years ago, she always made me feel like a part of the family. I miss her very much.

It was from Aunt Carol that I learned that all hamentashen didn’t come from a bakery. (I also learned that it is rude to stack dishes at the table when clearing.) Until I met her, I’d never had a homemade hamentashen. My reaction was not that dissimilar to when I found out, from my big sister Faith, that babies don’t come from the stork.

Every year, Aunt Carol and her sister-in-law, Aunt Jen, went into factory mode and produced vast quantities of tiny little triangles of dough filled with a prune and raisin filling, dipped in honey and walnuts. They shipped these hamantashen off to all their children, nieces and nephews across the universe. Sadly, Aunt Jen died about 26 years ago, but Aunt Carol soldiered on alone, continuing the tradition of making hamentashen for everyone in the family. We all looked forward to our little parcels in the mail. It’s possible that my addiction to online shopping is her fault. She conditioned me to get happy when boxes arrived in the mail.

I spent some very happy afternoons in Aunt Carol’s kitchen learning how to master hamentashen. The dough for this recipe is hers. The filling recipe for these hamentashen is my creation. While I love the traditional flavours of poppyseed and prune, I like to play with different flavour combos.A few years ago year I made Cinnamon Bun Hamentashen. Last year I baked Salted Caramel Apple Hamentashen, Poppy Seed Hamentashen and Dried Cherry and Pecan Hamentashen.

I love the combo of maple and pecans. I blitzed some toasted pecans, maple butter and some cream cheese together to make this delicious filling. If you can’t find maple butter, a combo of brown sugar and maple syrup would be a good substitute. In the recipe link below, I give proportions.

Once cooled, the baked hamentashen get a dip in a maple glaze and some finely chopped pecans.

Click here to print recipe for Maple Pecan Hamentashen.

Click here to print recipe for Aunt Carol’s Hamentashen.

Maple Sandwich Cookies

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While maple might not be the first flavour that leaps to mind for holiday baking, these cookies might change your mind. Like many Canadians, I grew up eating maple sandwich cookies, so I have a certain nostalgic fondness for them. One of these and a paper cup filled with apple juice takes me right back to nursery school!It’s been a while since I’ve snacked on a maple sandwich cookie, but as soon as I saw them being made on The Great Canadian Baking Show, I couldn’t stop craving them. While Canada’s version of the British original is a bit staid, at least we weren’t pulled from the air after the first 2 episodes for inappropriate behavior from one of our judges. Another fallen culinary hero. Mostly, I feel sad for all the contestants on the U.S. show that never got to showcase their talent.

Just reread that last paragraph and realized that my guilty pleasure for reality TV has been exposed. Not all reality TV though. Only shows that showcase actual skill or talent, such as Top Chef and Project Runway. The less drama and conflict between the contestants, the more I love it. Have any of you caught Masterchef Australia? Completely addictive.

The cookies are a simple shortbread dough, using unsalted butter, icing sugar, all-purpose flour, salt and a bit of maple extract. Do yourself a favour and roll out the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper as soon as you make it. Then chill the sheet of dough.Cut out shapes from chilled dough. If you want to get really fancy, you can draw the veining of the leaf with the tip of a paring knife. Or, if like me, your drawing talents suck, invest in one of these fondant cutters. It works best if you let the dough soften up a bit before you try to stamp the vein imprint on the cookie. Before baking, I sprinkled each cookie with coarse sanding sugar and just a touch of flaky sea salt. The filling for the sandwich cookies is made from unsalted butter, icing sugar and maple butter. I have tried a few different brands of maple butter and they were all pretty amazing. This one is from Vermont, this one is from Quebec. If maple is your jam, these cookies are for you. The maple flavour is intense and rich. They are the perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea.