Enjoy the sweet delights of these Mini Apple Rose Pies that are wrapped in a beautiful swirl of freshly baked homemade shortcrust pastry. These little Apple Pie Swirls are infused with the warm and inviting flavours of cinnamon, nutmeg, and tangy marmalade. Don't miss out on this irresistible treat!
This recipe makes 12 mini Apple Pie Roses and is a great alternative to making a large Apple Pie without the need for a pastry crust topping.
This recipe was inspired by a similar recipe 'Apple and Apricot Enriched Sourdough Roses' in Elaine Boddy's 3rd cook book Easy Everyday Sourdough Bread Baking. Instead of using sourdough, I opted for a simple homemade shortcrust pastry or store-bought version and enhanced the taste by incorporating additional spices.
I love making pastry and find this Easy Apple Tart is a good recipe to start. If you love apples, try this Easy Apple Crumble (Without Oats) or this Apple Sponge Pudding. Serve both with Easy Homemade Custard
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Ingredients and Substitutions
This is just an overview of the ingredients I used with possible alternatives and why I may have used them. See the recipe card below for a complete list of ingredients and quantities or click the 'Jump to Recipe' button at the top.
- Apples - Use naturally sweet dessert apples as this avoids the need for too much added sugar.
- Spices - Cinnamon and Nutmeg work well with apples, use other spices if you wish. Add to taste.
- Sugar - Just a little brown sugar is needed, which you mix with the spices.
- Marmalade - Adds a little tang to the mini apple pies, and helps the pastry stick together when you make the Apple Swirls.
- Butter - Unsalted and fridge cold cut into cubes. This makes it easier and quicker to blend with the flour.
- Flour - I used White spelt flour for this recipe, white plain flour is fine. You can learn more about Spelt and wholegrain flours by reading this Guide to Different Types of Flour
Step By Step Instructions
There are quite a few steps to this recipe, I suggest you read through all the instructions before you begin. Note: As an alternative to making your own shortcrust pastry a good quality ready made pastry is fine.
Make the Shortcrust Pastry
Step 1: Place the Flour and Butter into a food processor and blitz until you have fine breadcrumbs. If you don't have a food processor use the rubbing in method with your fingertips.
Step 2: Gradually add the water, and blitz again until the pastry dough comes together into a smooth, putty like consistency. Divide the pastry dough into two equal halves and wrap each portion in baking parchment or cling film. Flatten them a little and place them in the fridge for at least 30 mins to rest. This will make it easier to handle when it comes to rolling out the pastry.
Step 3: While the shortcrust pastry dough is resting in the fridge, prepare a 12 portion muffin tin by greasing it and lining it with strips of baking parchment. This will make it easier to remove the baked little pie rose swirls and ensure that they are baked to a nice golden colour underneath.
Prepare the Apple Roses
Step 4: Core the apples, and slice them in half there is no need to peel them. Slice the apple halves very thinly no more than 2 mm thick.
Step 5: To soften the apples and make them more pliable, place the slices in a bowl of boiling water for no more than a couple of minutes, this will also help prevent the apples from oxidising.
Step 6: Drain the apple slices and place them on a sheet of clean kitchen paper. Pat them dry. Note: Any excess water with create a soggy pastry.
Step 7: Mix together the Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Sugar in a small dish. Place the apple slices in a large bowl add a squeeze of lemon (optional) and scatter half the spice mix over the apples. Using clean hands carefully mix the apples and spices together taking care not to damage the apple slices.
Step 8: Remove each pastry portion from the fridge and roll out to about 12 inch wide square then cut into 2 inch wide trips making 12 strips in total. Note: Pastry is less challenging to manage when divided into smaller portions because excessive handling causes it to become tough. Melt the marmalade in a small pan, then brush it evenly onto the strips of shortcrust pastry. Note: At this point, you can either distribute the remaining spice mixture evenly over the marmalade on all 12 strips or choose to add flavour to half of the miniature apple pie swirls.
Step 9: Carefully place the apple slices, slightly overlapping each other on the top half of each shortcrust pastry strip, then fold the bottom half up over the slices of apple, taking care not to cover the apples completely.
Step 10: Roll each strip to create mini pie swirls placing each one in the muffin tin. Step 11: Dust with any remaining spice mixture before placing the tin back into the fridge to rest a little. Now is the time to Preheat the oven to 180 deg conventional fan assisted.
Step 12: When ready to bake, take the tray of apple roses out of the fridge and place them in the oven to bake for 30 - 40 mins until golden brown.
Step 13: Serve while still warm with cream or ice cream
Storage
These little mini apple roses with a pie crust are best eaten on the day they are made. After a day or so they may become dry. To freshen them up place them in a moderate oven for a couple of minutes before serving.
Top Tips
Tip 1: Always rest the pastry in the fridge and don't overhandle it or it could become tough and chewy to eat.
Tip 2: To soften the apple rose slices and make them more pliable place them in a bowl of boiling water for only a couple of minutes. No longer or they will turn to mush.
FAQ
Slices of small pears would work well or any fruits that can be sliced thinly and are easy to handle.
Other Dessert and Whole Grain Recipes
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
After making this recipe please let me know how you got on by leaving a comment below. Especially if you used alternative ingredients. Subscribe to my Newsletter - Let's stay connected.
Recipe
Mini Apple Rose Pies
Equipment
- 1 Muffin tin 12 portions
- Baking Parchment
Ingredients
For the Pastry
- 400 g white spelt flour or plain white flour
- 200 g butter fridge cold cut into cubes
- 100 ml cold water
For the Filling
- 3 dessert red apples
- 1 tablespoons soft Brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 3 tablespoons marmalade or apricot jam.
Instructions
- To make the Pastry, place the Flour and Butter into a food processor and blitz until you have fine breadcrumbs. Or do the rubbing in method with your fingertips.400 g white spelt flour or plain white flour, 200 g butter
- Gradually add the water, and blitz again until the pastry dough comes together into a smooth, putty like consistency. Divide the pastry dough into two equal halves and wrap each portion in baking parchment or cling film. Flatten them a little and place them in the fridge for at least 30 mins to rest. This will make it easier to handle when it comes to rolling out the pastry.100 ml cold water
- While the shortcrust pastry dough is resting in the fridge, prepare a 12 portion muffin tin by greasing it and lining it with strips of baking parchment. This will make it easier to remove the baked little pie rose swirls and ensure that they are baked to a nice golden colour underneath.
- Core the apples, and slice them in half there is no need to peel them. Slice the apple halves very thinly no more than 2 mm thick.3 dessert red apples
- To soften the apples and make them more pliable, place the slices in a bowl of boiling water for no more than a couple of minutes, this will also help prevent the apples from oxidising.
- Drain the apple slices and place them on a sheet of clean kitchen paper. Pat them dry. Note: Any excess water with create a soggy pastry.
- Mix together the Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Sugar in a small dish. Place the apple slices in a large bowl add a squeeze of lemon (optional) and scatter half the spice mix over the apples. Using clean hands carefully mix the apples and spices together taking care not to damage to apple slices.1 tablespoons soft Brown sugar, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Remove each pastry portion from the fridge and roll out to about 12 inch wide square then cut into 2 inch wide trips making 12 strips in total. Note: Pastry is less challenging to manage when divided into smaller portions because excessive handling causes it to become tough. Melt the marmalade in a small pan, then brush it evenly onto the strips of shortcrust pastry. Note: At this point, you can either distribute the remaining spice mixture evenly over the marmalade on all 12 strips or choose to add flavour to half of the miniature apple pie swirls.3 tablespoons marmalade
- Carefully place the apple slices, slightly overlapping each other on the top half of each shortcrust pastry strip, then fold the bottom half up over the slices of apple, taking care not to cover the apples completely.
- Roll each strip to create mini pie swirls placing each one in the muffin tin. Dust with any remaining spice mixture before placing the tin back into the fridge to rest a little. Now is the time to Preheat the oven to 180 deg conventional fan assisted.
- When ready to bake, take the tray of apple roses out of the fridge and place them in the oven to bake for 30 - 40 mins until golden brown. serve while still warm with cream or ice cream.
Notes
Nutrition
Note: Recipes are tested using Metric only. The provided nutrition information is an estimate for the entire recipe, the calorie accuracy nutritional facts, unit and portion conversion are calculated by a third party app. and are not guaranteed.
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