rustic apple danishes

In this pastry:

apples

white sugar

brown sugar

cinnamon

flour

frozen puff pastry

egg

butter

powdered sugar

milk

vanilla extract

Yield: 12 danishes if you use two sheets of puff pastry (if you only want to make six danishes, use just one sheet of puff pastry and cut all measurements for the filling and icing in half)

Blast! It’s mid-October already! Fall seems to slip away faster than any other season, probably because it’s the one I’m trying hardest to hold onto.

I hope you’ve managed to fit in some old-fashioned fall fun by now. If you’re like me and all the other autumnaphiles out there, you’re probably suddenly very taken by apples (and all apple products). Maybe you got carried away apple-picking at an orchard, or maybe you couldn’t leave the farmers market without a half-peck of honeycrisp in tow (oh, the aesthetics of it!).

What I’m saying is, it’s fairly likely that you have some apples on hand. So why not toss a few in cinnamon-sugar and bake them on a flaky butter bed?

Ingredients

3 apples*, peeled and chopped (approx. 2 cups)

3 tablespoons white sugar

1 tablespoon brown sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ tablespoon flour

2 sheets frozen puff pastry**

1 egg

about 3 tablespoons cold butter

3 tablespoons powdered sugar

½ tablespoon milk

1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

*Best to use firm apples for baking, I’m told. I used apples that came from a coworker’s partner’s coworker’s (??) backyard tree; I didn’t catch the variety, but I can tell you they were firm and tart!

**You know, there was a time in my life—post-college, jobless—when I would have been up for the time- and labor-intensive project of making puff pastry from scratch. But that ship has sailed, friends, and I’m now an unabashed buyer of frozen puff pastry. There is a tradeoff, though—the frozen stuff is usually made with vegetable shortening instead of butter, which means two things: an inferior taste and a thin waxy film that collects on the roof of your mouth after several bites. (Am I ruining this for you? It’s still delicious, I swear.) Here’s the good news: apparently Trader Joe’s sells an ALL-BUTTER frozen puff pastry! Can it be true? Convenience without sacrificing flavor? You butter believe I’ll be trying it.

Directions

1. Chop the apples and dump into a medium bowl.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the white and brown sugars, cinnamon, and flour.

3. Pour the sugar mixture into the bowl of chopped apples and toss to coat all the apples.

4. When the puff pastry is thawed (but not too thawed! check the box for guidance), sprinkle your work surface with sugar and roll out the puff pastry rectangle so it’s a little thinner than it was to begin with.

5. Cut the puff pastry sheet into six rectangles and place them onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

6. Whisk an egg in a small bowl and brush the egg along the edges of the pastry rectangles.

7. Place 2 to 3 tablespoons of the apple filling in the center of each pastry rectangle; try to keep the egg-washed edges uncovered.

8. Cut up a few tablespoons of cold butter into small cubes. Top each pile of apple filling with a couple of these bitty butter cubes.

9. Sprinkle brown sugar over the top of each apple pastry.

10. Bake the apple pastries at 400°F for 15 to 18 minutes. The pastries should be golden brown.

11. In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract. Once the pastries have cooled a tad, drizzle the icing over them like they do in the Toaster Strudel commercials. Oh ja!

There you have it, my apple-pickin’ pals. All that’s left to do is plate your pastry, pour some coffee, and watch the leaves swirl outside your window.

Here’s to three more months of fall!

—Megan