Name: Baked apple roses
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 12-cup muffin pan; 1/4 cup (60 milliliters) raspberry jam; 2 red apples, halved and sliced crosswise into half-moons 2 millimeters thick (see Tips); 1 sheet puff pastry dough, 25 centimeter square, thawed if frozen (225 grams)

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These striking pastries always draw compliments and are surprisingly easy to make. The only trick is to cut the apple slices thinly and cook them until they’re soft enough to bend. Other than that, it’s wrap and roll! But make sure not to tell your guests — try to convince them that you could have grown real roses faster, and see if it leverages you some help with post-dessert cleanup.

YIELDS

6 PASTRIES

Ingredients

12-cup muffin pan
1/4 cup (60 milliliters) raspberry jam
2 red apples, halved and sliced crosswise into half-moons 2 millimeters thick (see Tips)
1 sheet puff pastry dough, 25 centimeter square, thawed if frozen (225 grams)

Directions

In a medium saucepan, combine the jam with two tablespoons (30 milliliters) water. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Place the apple slices in the hot jam mixture and toss gently to coat.
Return the saucepan to medium heat and gently cook the apples for two minutes, stirring only enough to coat the slices, until they are soft enough to bend without breaking.
On a lightly floured work surface, fold the puff pastry dough in half and roll it out into a 30 by 23 centimeter rectangle. Cut the dough widthwise into six strips, each 30 by 4 centimeters.
Using a fork or tongs, remove the apple slices one at a time from the jam mixture, shaking off any excess. Place an apple slice on the left end of each strip, so the edge with the red skin extends above the long edge of the pastry and the bottom is about halfway across it. Place a total of about eight apple slices along the strip of pastry in the same way, overlapping their ends slightly.
Starting at one end, carefully roll up the dough strip jelly-roll-style, keeping the apple slices in place. Pinch the dough “stem” to seal, tuck it under the base and place the rose in one well of the muffin pan. Adjust the apple “petals” if they have shifted out of place. Repeat until you have six apple roses, spacing them apart in the muffin pan. Brush the tops with any remaining jam mixture.
Bake on the middle rack of the preheated oven until the pastry is golden and the apples are soft, about 40 to 45 minutes. Let stand for ten minutes on a wire rack, then remove from the pan with a dull knife. Eat warm.