Spiced Apple Puffs

Back home in Canada, this is Thanksgiving weekend. If I was over there I'd be in a flurry of baking pumpkin and pecan pies, peeling a ton of spuds . . .

peeling carrots, and turnips and making a huge pan of dressing to serve with the gargantuan turkey waiting in the fridge. . .



Cranberries would have been bought and turned into two lucious sauces . . . one cooked and the other a relish . . .

Dough would be rising to be made into fluffy rolls, and apple cider would be chillin in the cooler.



I'd be busy freshening rooms, plumping beds and putting out fresh towels in the baths, making ready for the onslaught of family due to arrive . . .

Kids, and spouses and grandkiddies . . .



alas, I am over here, so none of that will happen.

I tried to do Thanksgiving over here once . . . nobody understood it, or really got into it. It was just not the same . . .

If I was having my family over, I'd be sure to make them these. Tasty single serving sized little puffs, all scrummy with an almond filling tucked underneath the apple and a spicy maple glaze gilding their tops . . .

Instead I just make them for Todd and I, and dream of Thanksgiving's gone by, as I stare out the kitchen window at the falling leaves . . .



*Spiced Apple Puffs*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

These delicious tarts are incredibly easy to make and yet so impressive when they are done. Who wouldn't like a mini apple pie, in a deliciously flakey crust with an almond filling hidden beneath the apple. Glazed with maple syrup and mixed spice, it makes the perfect autumnal dessert.

50g butter, softened
50g icing sugar, sifted
50g ground almonds
1 X 375g pack of ready rolled puff pastry
3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cut in half, cored and then sliced thinly
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
2 TBS amber Maple Syrup (Grade B)
1 tsp mixed spice
Creme fraiche to serve



Pre-heat the oven to 220*C/425*F. Place the butter, icing sugar, and almonds in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy. It will look like this is never going to happen, but bear with it . . . all of a sudden like magic it will be creamy and smooth!

Unroll the puff pastry and cut 6 three inch rounds out with a sharp knife. Place some 2 inches apart on a baking sheet which you have lined with parchment paper. Divide the almond mixture between each, spreading it out and leaving a narrow border around the outside edge of each tart. Arrange the apple slices on top, trying to keep the shape of the half apple as best as you can, but allowing them to fan out a bit. Brush the edges of the pastry with a little beaten egg, trying not to let it drip down onto the parchment paper.

Bake the pastries for 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oven.

Stir the mixed spice and Maple Syrup together and brush this mixture over top of the tarts. Return to the oven and bake for a further 5 minutes. Serve warm or cold with a dollop of creme fraiche on each. Delicious!