Apple in a dressing gown (apfel im schlafrock)

• makes

  8

• prep

  1:15 hour

• cook

  50 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 80 g (½ cup) sultanas
• 55 g (¼ cup) caster sugar
• 150 g hazelnut meal
• 8 small red gala apples, peeled, cored three-quarters through, apple intact
• 2 tbsp marzipan
• 2 x 375 g blocks puff pastry, thawed
• 2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
• icing sugar, to dust

Crème Anglaise

• 1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped
• 500 ml (2 cups) milk
• 5 egg yolks
• 75 g (⅔ cup) caster sugar

Instructions

Soak sultanas in 2 tbsp hot water and sugar for 15 minutes to rehydrate. Stir in hazelnut meal. Fill apple cores with two-thirds of the sultana mixture, then fill the top of each core with a little marzipan.

Roll out pastry until 2 mm thick, then cut into 8 x 14 cm squares. Divide the remaining sultana mixture among pastry squares, then place apples in the centre of each one. Brush pastry edges with water and fold each corner of the pastry into the centre, pressing edges together well to form a secure parcel. Brush with egg yolks, place seam-side down on an oven tray, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 200°C. Bake pastries for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 170°C and bake for a further 20 minutes or until pastry is golden and apples are tender. If pastry is over-browning, lower the oven temperature.

Meanwhile, to make crème Anglaise, place vanilla bean and seeds and milk in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a bowl. Gradually add hot milk to egg mixture. Return mixture to the pan over low heat and stir continuously with a wooden spoon until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon; do not boil. Strain into a bowl, discarding vanilla bean. Cover surface with plastic wrap. Allow to cool. Makes 2 cups.

Dust pastries with icing sugar and serve warm with crème Anglaise.

Store leftover crème Anglaise in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

As seen in Feast Magazine, Issue 14, pg57.

Photography by Sean Fennessy

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.