Since I’m not really a baker – and a sophisticated one at that – making apple rose pies was quite a task. I was rather impressed when it came out perfect in the first shot! Mini Apple Rose Pies reminded of the Turkish Rose Dessert – Gul Tatlisi– I had recently made. An important factor for a good pie is to use everything chilled because we don’t want the butter to melt before it reaches the oven. That means chilled bowl, chilled butter, chilled water, and chilled dough. These Mini Apple Rose Pies are inspired from my little Game Of Thrones recipes adventure and dedicated to Margaery Tyrell of the House Tyrell whose sigil is a golden rose. Margaery is the lesser evil and more charming female character against Cersei Lannister, playing her cards well to be the queen of the Seven Kingdoms. The GoT fan in my house predicted Margaery is done for when she got on Cersei’s wrong side by referring her as ‘Queen Mother’ – and that’s what happened in Season 6. That’s no reason for not having the Tyrells in our Game of Thrones recipe series.
Dough:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
8 tbsp unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
3 tbsp ice cold water
Filling:
2 red apples
1/2 cup sugar
4 tbsp butter
3 tbsp lemon juice
Method:
In a medium, chilled bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.
Add in the cubed butter. Gently work the butter into the flour with your fingers till its looks like a coarse meal. The pieces of butter would be pea sizes or smaller. Don’t mash the butter.
Add the ice water, one tablespoon at a time. Combine slowly to form a dough ball. Break it equally, cover or wrap and refrigerate for one hour.
Prepare the filling. Cut the apples on all sides to remove the entire core. Cut thin slices of equal thickness.
Place the apple slices in a microwave bowl and drizzle the lemon juice. Mix 2 tbsp of melted butter with 1/4 cup sugar and pour over the apples. Microwave the apples for about a minute or so until the apples are soft and pliable enough to roll. Keep checking at intervals. Keep aside.
Start rolling the cold dough. It may seem stiff initially but it will soften while you roll. Don’t worry if you see a few cracks here and there. Powder the surface with some flour and roll to about 1/4 inch thickness. Use a cup or a bowl of about 3-4 inch in diameter and press it all over the dough to make pie circles. Remove each circle gently and place them in a greased cupcake or muffin baking tray. Roll the remaining dough and make the circles again.
Now make the apple roses. Place about 6 slice of apples on a flat surface in a horizontal row. Each slice should overlap the previous slice by half. You can use more slices for a rose depending on the size of your cupcake or muffin molds.
Begin rolling the apple slices from one end to the other tightly. Use your fingers gently but steadily. Once you have the basic rose shape, add additional apple petals around if you have any left. Place each rose in the pie dough in your cupcake tray.
In an oven preheated to 375 F, bake the rose pies for about 25-30 minutes. The apples will be cooked and the crust will look a shade of golden.
Your apple rose pies are done. If you like it sweet or want to give it a deeper red hue, you can brush some strawberry preserve on the apples. I don’t have a sweet tooth so I just loved mine the way they were!
