Caramel Apple Puff Pastry Pinwheels

Today I’m really excited to share with you my very first experience using puff pastry. I’ve always been intrigued by the thought of using it but never really got around to trying it until now. So I thought I’d use my very first experience as a tutorial so you could all cook along with me.

For starters, I chose a recipe on Pepperidge Farm’s Puff Pastry website. This is a very slightly tweaked version of their Apple Pecan Pastries recipe.

Let me tell you, I was really surprised at how easy it was to make this delicious coffee treat using puff pastry. I had always thought it would be fragile to work with but found it to be really sturdy and hold up much better than any other dough traditional dough. I’ll definitely be making these and many more puff pastry recipes in the future and plan on bringing you more of them as I do. I made these in a fraction of the time it takes to make homemade muffins so I’m going to be making them for my apple loving in laws when they come to visit this next weekend. They were just the right amount of sweet (but not too sweet) and the puff pastry is wonderfully flaky and light after its been baked.

For this recipe you’ll need: 1 puff pastry sheet (a package contains two), brown sugar, chopped pecans, flour, margarine, cinnamon, and a few apples.

The recipe called for granny smith but I just used whatever I had on hand.

Puff Pastry is purchased frozen. Take out one sheet and set it on the counter at room temperature to thaw for 40 minutes before starting this. I put the other sheet in a zipper bag and stuck it back in my freezer for my next puff pastry play date :).

Combine your brown sugar and flour in a bowl.

The recipe called for “brown sugar” so that leaves it up to you whether you use light or dark.

Course y’all know I’m gonna use dark so it will be all the more richer in flavor. ~grins~

Once you have that stirred up, add in your cinnamon.

Cut in your margarine like so…

It’ll look like this when you’re done.

Peel and chop your apples and add them in along with your chopped pecans.

It’ll look like this.

If you don’t get out an apple bit to sample I just might disown ya!

Unfold  your pastry sheet onto a floured surface.

I always use a piece of waxed paper as my floured surface because I can just fold it up and toss it for quick cleanup.

Roll out your pastry sheet to approximately 15×10 inches.

I added in the “approximately” part because I’m too lazy to get a ruler here and don’t think you should have to, either.

This is good enough. Puff Pastry likes us and doesn’t want us to go to any trouble on its account.

The recipe said to brush water onto your pastry sheet but if you just wet your clean hand and give it a good rub down that works too.

~grins~

Pile all of that yummy filling on top of the puff pastry sheet, but don’t go all the way to the edges so we can use that to seal it closed with.

Roll it up like a cinnamon roll.

Now this is where I thought I’d have trouble. I figured all of those diced apples would poke a hole in this for sure but I was amazed at how sturdy this was! I had imagined it to be something like crescent roll dough (the kind you use in a can) but this is a lot sturdier than that.

Who knew puff pastry would be such a workhorse?

Here it is all rolled up!

The original recipe said to cut it into twelve pieces but since we weren’t too particular on the measuring thing I figured I’d eyeball this too. 🙂

I cut my roll about every inch.

Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. I lined mine with aluminum foil because I thought that once all of those pinwheels started baking the brown sugar would melt and ooze and it would make a huge mess.

I was wrong again.

The brown sugar and flour created the perfect ratio and as they cooked, nothing oozed and there was no sticky mess at all.

Honestly, these little suckers are wonders from start to finish.

Place them all on a baking sheet about two inches apart.

Bake at 375 for 15 minutes.

Remove to wire rack to cool. Even as soon as they came out of the oven they were pretty sturdy and easy to move. I had kinda thought they would fall apart but again, puff pastry proved me wrong.

Why does this stuff have such a reputation for being intimidating? At this point, I think there has been a conspiracy to keep us from knowing the wonders and ease that is puff pastry. This is my new favorite ingredient!

Now the original recipe said to sprinkle confectioner’s sugar over the tops once they are done but I had just bought some caramels so I had an idea…

I unwrapped about one caramel for each pinwheel and melted them in the microwave.

To do this I heated them for thirty seconds at a time and stirred until they were melted completely.

Then I drizzled them over the pinwheels with a spoon.

and I heard my pinwheels sigh in contentment as I did so.

This was just what they wanted.

I think puff pastry is happy it found me, too. ~grins~

I served these little beauties with coffee and we enjoyed them immensely. I will be making these again.

They were delicious, impressive, unique, and half the work of homemade muffins.

Puff Pastry is incredibly easy to work with. I hate that I’ve missed out on it all this time!

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:22]

*Based on Pepperidge Farm’s Apple Pecan Pastry Recipe with just a few minor changes

I’ve enjoyed bring you my very first experience with puff pastry in this post, sponsored by Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry.

Do you have a Puff Pastry creation to share? Enter the 1, 2, 3 Puff! Recipe Contest and you could receive an all-expense paid trip to New York City for a taste of the sweet life! Find more great recipes and enter to win at www.123puffpastry.com!

“Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out if they’ve got a second. Give your dreams all you’ve got and you’ll be amazed at the energy that comes out of you.”

—William James

Submitted by Sharon. Submit your quote here. Thank you!