Blue Jean Chef

You can make all the components for this dessert ahead of time and then just put it together at the last minute. It can look a lot more impressive than it really is, but no-one else needs to know that!

Cinnamon Cider Braised Apples on Puff Pastry with Caramel Sauce

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. butter
4 Gala apples, peeled, halved and cored
¼ cup Calvados (optional)
½ - 1 cup apple juice (preferably unpasteurized and 100% juice) or cider
1 – 2 cinnamon sticks
2 cloves
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 sheet puff pastry
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup heavy cream
½ tsp. vanilla extract
mint leaves
whipping cream
cinnamon stick
ground cinnamon

Directions:
1. Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the butter and when it stops sizzling, add the apples, cut side down. Try to get some nice color on the apples.
2. Add the Calvados and let it deglaze the pan and reduce to almost nothing. Add the apple juice or cider, cinnamon stick, nutmeg and cloves. Bring the mixture to a simmer and braise for 15 minutes, or until the apples are tender to a knife point or skewer. Do not overcook or they will become mushy.
3. Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees F. Roll out the puff pastry slightly and cut into 4½ – 5” circles. Place the circles on a cookie sheet, lined with parchment paper. Dock with a skewer and cover with more parchment paper. Top with another cookie sheet to keep the circles flat when they bake. Bake in the oven until lightly browned. Remove and cool on a cooling rack.
4. To make the caramel sauce, use two saucepans. In one of the saucepans, heat the cream until there are little bubbles around the side of the pan. Reduce the heat to low and keep the cream warm. In the other saucepan, heat the sugar until it melts. Swirl the pan gently until the sugar turns a nice brown color, but do not stir. Then , off the heat, slowly whisk in the warm cream, adding the cream before you put the whisk in. The caramel may seize up a little here. Don’t worry - it will melt back down with additional heat and stirring. Stir in the vanilla extract. After the sauce cools a little, place it into a squeeze bottle to make decorating the plate easier.
5. To plate, place one puff pastry circle on the plate. Make slices at a slight angle into the apple, starting about 1/3 of the way down from the stem end. Fan the apple out on the puff pastry circle. Drizzle the caramel sauce over the apple and pastry in a zigzag motion. Garnish with whipped cream, a mint leaf, some ground cinnamon and a cinnamon stick.