Easy Apple Puff Pastry Recipe
This delicious apple dessert combines tender Granny Smith apples with store-bought puff pastry sheets for a stunning braided treat that looks like it came from a bakery!
Servings: 12 slices
Calories: 362kcal
Equipment
- Ninja Possible Cooker Pro or Slow Cooker
- Baking Sheet Pans
Ingredients
Apple Filling
- 3 pounds Granny Smith apples peeled, cored and cut into eighths
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon kosher or sea salt
- 1 Navel Orange or lemon, juiced and zested
Pastry
- 2 sheets store-bought puff pastry 17.3 oz package, thawed to room temperature
- 2 Tablespoons heavy cream or 1 egg, beaten
- 2 Tablespoons coarse sugar
Optional Glaze
- ½ cup powdered sugar (confectioner sugar/icing sugar)
- 1-2 Tablespoons heavy cream
- Orange Zest to taste
Instructions
Prep for Recipe
- Remove frozen puff pastry from freezer and let thaw at room temperature for about an hour. I do this while the apple filling is cooking. It's important that you can unfold the pastry without it cracking.2 sheets store-bought puff pastry
Cooking the Apple Filling
- Zest and juice the orange into the slow cooker or Possible Cooker Pro. Peel and core the apples and add to the slow cooker pot. Toss the apples in the citrus juice to prevent browning.1 Navel Orange, 3 pounds Granny Smith apples
- Add the sugar and spices. Stir to combine. Set the slow cooker on high for 1 hour. Stir once 30 minutes into the cooking process.½ cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon teaspoon nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon kosher or sea salt
- Transfer cooked apples to a metal tray.Spread apples in a single layer for faster cooling. Cool at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 425°F and line your baking sheets with parchment paper. Pro tip: flip your baking sheet upside down if it has raised edges - this helps with airflow and gives you better puff!
Braiding the Puff Pastry
- On a lightly floured surface, roll each puff pastry sheet out to about 11x12 inches. Try to keep it in a nice rectangle shape as much as possible.
- Divide your chilled apple filling in half (I just eyeball it), and place half down the center of each pastry sheet. Leave about an inch at the top and bottom, and about 4 inches on each side
- Cut out the corners at a 45-degree angle. Fold the edge s up over the filling and press it down to create a little seal so your filling doesn't leak out during baking.
- Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut 1-inch strips along both sides of the pastry. Don't worry about being too precise - even when mine look messy, they turn out beautiful.
- Starting at one end, take a strip from one side and fold it diagonally over the filling, then take a strip from the opposite side and fold it over. Keep alternating sides all the way down - stretch the strips gently if you need to, they're pretty forgiving.
- When you get to the top, fold that edge down and seal it just like you did the bottom. If you end up with an extra strip or things look uneven, don't worry! Just trim off any extras - these are so forgiving, they always look gorgeous once baked.
- Carefully transfer your braided pastries to the prepared baking sheets. I like to use the parchment paper to help lift them.
- Brush the tops with heavy cream (you could use an egg wash, but I love how the cream works with the coarse sugar). Sprinkle about a tablespoon of coarse sugar over each pastry - this gives such a beautiful, bakery-style finish.2 Tablespoons heavy cream, 2 Tablespoons coarse sugar
- Place in your preheated oven on the middle rack and immediately reduce the temperature to 400°F. This lower temperature helps prevent the sugar from burning while still getting that perfect golden brown color. Bake for about 25 minutes. If you're baking both pastries at once, rotate the pans halfway through. You might be tempted to pull them early when they start looking golden, but I usually go the full 25 minutes to get the sides and bottom perfectly crispy.
- Transfer the pastries to a cooling rack and remove the parchment. Let them cool on the baking sheet for at least 30 minutes before cutting. This allows the puff pastry to finish cooking from the residual heat and ensures it's not doughy inside.
Make the Glaze
- Mix the powdered sugar with a little orange zest and 1-2 tablespoons of cream - you want it thick enough to coat a spoon but thin enough to drizzle nicely. Drizzle over your cooled pastries and watch them transform into something that looks like it came from a fancy bakery!½ cup powdered sugar (confectioner sugar/icing sugar), 1-2 Tablespoons heavy cream, Orange Zest to taste
- Cut into slices and serve ❤️
Notes
Recipe Yield & Serving Size: This recipe makes 2 braided apple puff pastries, each approximately 11-12 inches long. For serving, cut each pastry into 6 slices (about 2 inches each) for a total of 12 servings
For one large pastry: Overlap two sheets on parchment paper, roll seam together to create one 20-inch pastry. The cooking temperatures and timing remain the same.
Apple turnover variation: Cut pastry into 4-inch squares, add 2 tablespoons filling, fold into triangles, seal edges, bake 15-18 minutes at 400°F. Storage: Best served fresh. Store leftovers at room temperature up to 2 days. Can freeze assembled unbaked pastries up to 2 months.
Nutritional Information Disclaimer: Nutritional values provided are estimates calculated using standard ingredient databases and are offered as a courtesy to our readers. The Salted Pepper cannot guarantee the accuracy of these nutritional calculations as actual values may vary based on specific brands used, measuring techniques, portion sizes, and ingredient substitutions.
Nutrition
Serving: 1slice | Calories: 362kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 4mg | Sodium: 153mg | Potassium: 170mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 28g | Vitamin A: 146IU | Vitamin C: 12mg | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 1mg