Baked Apple Rolls

I made these Apple Rolls sometimes ago when I had some extra sugar crust in the  refrigerator. I wanted to make apple pie, but I was too lazy for extra works. With apple pie, I have to flatten the dough, cut them, fit them into the mold and prepare another dough for the topping to cover the pie. I decided to make the apple pie like sardine rolls. Flatten the dough into a rectangle/square, add in the filling and roll. It was the shortcut version of apple pie. 

Baked Apple Rolls

Sugar Crust
500g Flour
250g Butter
2# Egg Yolk
50g Confectioners Sugar

Filling
4# Apples - peeled, cored, diced into brunois
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup apple cider
1# Cinnamon Stick
Cinnamon Powder- as desired
1/2 cup Raisins
1/2 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup dried prune
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
50g Butter
5g Corn Starch

Crust

1. Sift flour and sugar together.
2. Rub in egg yolk and butter into the flour mixture.
3. Turn dough onto work surface and divide them into two balls (base and top crust) and flatten them. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for an hour. Take it out 10-15 minutes before use.

Filling

1. Sweat diced apple with butter, apple cider and cinnamon stick.
2. Add in dried fruits, walnut, and sprinkle cinnamon powder to your liking.
3. Sprinkle corn starch, and let the juice thicken.

Assemble

1. Preheat oven to 180 Celsius.
2. Roll one pastry on a lightly floured surface into a square/rectangle.
3. Spoon the apple filling on the pastry into a line.
4. Roll up swiss-roll style. Seal the edges with beaten egg white.
5. Place the rolls on a baking tray. Do not cut them into portion yet. The rolls would turn slightly messy if you did.
6. Brush 1# egg yolk on top of each crust.
7. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until rolls turn golden brown.
8. Let cool for an hour before cutting them into bite size for serving. I like to keep them in the refrigerator for a night before serving. It was much more easier to cut them when they're chilled.

Waldorf Salad

 

It was my parents' anniversary. I had to prepare some dishes, a dinner for them. I had to think of something really simple, and really easy to make. Then, I came up with a menu.

Appetizer

Waldorf Salad

Soup

French Onion Soup

Main Course

Broast Chicken with Oven Roasted Potato Wedges and Oven Roasted Vegetables

Desserts

Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream

We were really hungry by the time I finished (well, my parents are). I didn't manage to shoot more pictures of others dishes. Waldorf Salad was the only dish I manage to shoot.

Waldorf salad was one of the simplest salad to prepare. It's healthy too! I read an article, and it said that it's good to consume fruits before any meal. That's why I decided on Waldorf Salad.

Waldorf Salad

2 apples - cored and diced
1 stalk celery - sliced or diced
1 handful walnuts - toasted and chopped coarsely (I omitted this)

3 tbsp fruit salad dressing
1 tablespoon lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
lettuce - for base

1. Mix the apple, celery and walnuts in a bowl.
2. Mix the dressing, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a bowl.
3. Toss the salad with the dressing.
4. Serve on a bed of lettuce.

Apple Cream Tart

I missed my kitchen (okay, it's my mum's) a lot while being away for two weeks. So, when I get back from my 'disappearance' I told my mum I wanted to bake something. I flipped over some of my magazine to search for a new dishes to be experimented on. Then, I found a recipe of Apple Cream Tart from Food Digest's volume 4. The recipe was provided by Laura Calder. So, I thought, I should give it a try :)

Of course, mine didn't look as good as Calder's

Apple Cream Tart

Tart Shell

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour

Cream Filling

1 egg

1/2tsp vanilla

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/4 sugar

Topping

3 apples - peeled and thinly sliced

1/4 cup sugar (I used brown sugar)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup slivered almonds or chopped walnuts.

Tart Shell

1. Heat the oven to 200 Celsius. Make the crust: cream the butter and sugar. Stir in the vanilla. FInally mix in the flour to make a smooth dough.

2. Press into the bottom of an 20cm/8-inch spring-form pan, giving it about a 1-inch/2.5cm rim. Bake 15 minutes until lightly golden. Remove from the oven.

Cream Filling

1. Beat all the ingredients for the cream filling together until smooth.

2. Remove the tart shell from the oven. Spread over the cream mixture.

Topping

1. Make the topping by tossing the apple slices with the cinnamon, sugar and nuts.

2. Arrange the apple slices on top, then scatter over the nuts. Bake until the apple are tender and golden, about 40 minutes.

I had some leftover dough for crust and filling. I sprinkled some chopped chocolate on top, and bake them in the muffin tin :)

Apple Pie

Apple pie was one of the pastry items I learned in culinary school. Well, my first class in Pastry class was on shortcrust/sugarcrust. Then, it remains as one of my favorites recipes. Sometimes, I would make them for families and friends. They would love this apple pie as the pastry is rich and crumbly. This crust recipe is my favorite. I've tried several different crust recipes, and I'd still like this one. What's your favorite crust recipes?

Apple Pie

Pie

500g Flour

250g Butter

2# Egg Yolk

50g Confectioners Sugar

Filling
3# Apples - peeled, cored, diced
200g Brown Sugar
1# Cinnamon Stick
Cinnamon Powder- as desired
100g Raisins
50g Butter
5g Corn Starch

Crust
1. Sift flour and sugar together.
2. Rub in egg yolk and butter into the flour mixture.
3. Turn dough onto work surface and divide them into two balls (base and top crust) and flatten them. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for an hour.
4. Roll one pastry on a lightly floured surface. Gently transfer them to a pie pan/mold.
5. Trim the edges of pastry to fit the mold.
6. Dock the crust with fork.
7. Cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator.

Filling

1. Sweat diced apple with butter and cinnamon stick.

2. Add in raisins, and sprinkle cinnamon powder to your liking.

3. Sprinkle corn starch, and let the juice thicken.

Assemble

1. Preheat oven to 180 Celsius.

2. Spoon the apple filling into the pie crust.

3. Roll half of the pastry, and cover the top of pie.

4.Trim the pastry crust and crimp the edge using your fingers or fork.

5. Dock the top of pie to allow steam to escape.

6. Brush 1# egg yolk on top of each crust.

7. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes.

8. Let cool for an hour before serving.