Apple Heaven

My name is Shelley and I am a King Arthur Flour addict.

I just started my subscription to their "Baking Sheet". It's a magazine they send out full of recipes and no ads. How cool is that?

The holiday issue is packed with yummy things I can't wait to try. This morning I started with Luscious Apple Rolls. Can I just say, they were appropriately named?

So here goes:

Syrup:

In a medium sauce pan combine the following:

2 cups sugar

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1 3/4 cups water or 1 cup apple cider and 3/4 cups water. (I used apple cider from Costco. Make one cup for the syrup and one for you to enjoy while doing all the prep work.)

Add 2 Tbsp butter.

Bring to a boil stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from heat and let cool.

( I think I want to make this again for apple pancakes. mmmm.....)

The pastry:

Sift together:

2 cups flour (King Arthur Flour)

2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

Then cut in:

1/2 cup unsalted butter

Mix until mixture resembles coarse meal.

In a separate bowl stir together:

1/2 cup milk

1 large egg

Add egg mixture to flour mixture. Blend just until dough is evenly moistened. It will be dry. That's OK.

Dump dough out onto lightly floured sheet of Parchment paper.

If you don't have any, you seriously need to get some. KAF has it here. The great thing about it is that you can wash it and reuse it over and over again as long as you are careful and don't tear it. It will become your new must have in the kitchen for baking.

I know it looks dry, but it will work. Now take one side of the parchment paper and fold it over, then press dough flat like this:

Unfold the paper, turn it and press the dough down again rotating the dough. This is what creates the layers of the pastry and makes it light and flaky. It's OK if there are chunks of butter visible. Trust me, you want them there.

Fold and press the dough a few times to help the dough stick together. Then lightly flour your rolling pin and roll the dough out to a 9x12 inch rectangle.

Did you notice the chunks of butter in the dough? Look close.

KAF tip: The standard rolling pin barrel is about 9 inches. A super easy way to measure your dough.

KAF tip 2: The barrel of your rolling pin plus one handle is about 14 inches. (I learned this at the Traveling Baking Demo that KAF did here in Seattle. Watch for more posts of what I learned. I can't wait to share more.)

Next get two apples. To keep things festive I used a Golden, and a Cameo. Shred the apples and mix with

1 Tbsp lemon juice

This will help keep the apples from turning brown.

Evenly spread apple shreds on pastry dough, leaving about 1 inch space on the long end of one side to seal the seam. Carefully roll the dough up and cut with Dental floss, unflavored kind, like you do with cinnamon rolls. Gently place in well greased 9x13 pan.

There should be 12 rolls.

Pour the syrup on and around the rolls.

Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 40 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center of one of the rolls comes out clean. Remove from oven and serve warm.

They are seriously Heavenly!

Prep time is about 1 hour. You can make the syrup and the rolls the night before, just cook the apple shreds slightly in the lemon juice and let cool before rolling them up. Cover the rolls, and place in refrigerator over night. In the morning, uncover and pour syrup over rolls while oven preheats. Then they can bake while you get ready for your day, then fresh hot Luscious Apple Rolls for breakfast. MMMmmmmm.....