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How to Make Apple Rose Tarts With Cream Cheese

Looking for a special holiday dessert recipe that is pleasing both for eyes and for taste buds? But not a too complicated one? Look no further! These Puff Pastry Apple Roses can impress anyone you want and are incredibly easy to make.

Cream cheese puff pastry apple roses with powdered sugar on a black plate.
Jump to:
  • How Do You Make A Rose Out Of An Apple?
  • Ingredients
  • Alternative Add-Ins:
  • How To Make
  • Can I Make Roses With Another Fruit?
  • How To Serve
  • FAQs
  • More Fall Desserts
  • 📖 Recipe
  • 💬 Comments

We make these cute mini apple rose tarts using puff pastry sheet, cream cheese, brown sugar and apple slices. So the sweet and savory flavors in this easy puff pastry dessert with apples are perfectly balanced. Aaaand these are like individual apple pies with a fancy look that fit any special day like Thanksgiving, Christmas, Mother's Day, Valentines Day or even baby showers. Get ready to learn how to make apple roses in the easiest way! I promise you will be proud of yourself in the end.

If you love light apple desserts, also check out Baked Whole Apples , which are one of our favorite breakfast foods as well.

How Do You Make A Rose Out Of An Apple?

To make a rose out of an apple, you need to slice the apple first and then cook them for 1-2 minutes until they get flexible enough. The rest is the fun part. Arrange these softened apple slices on a puff pastry strip so that half of them overlap on another and roll it up to make an apple rose dessert. It is that easy! Read on for more details and step by step pictures.

Apple roses recipe ingredients on a dark background

Ingredients

  • Apples: Use crispy and red apples for this recipe like Jazz apple, Gala, Pink Lady or Honeycrisp.
  • Puff Pastry: This is the key ingredient to make these amazing baked apple roses easily. We mostly use Jus-Rol's ready rolled puff pastry sheet , which makes things even easier. The only thing you need is to thaw the puff pastry and then cut it into strips. If you use a puff pastry block, then you need to roll it out first and then cut into strips.
  • Cream Cheese: There are varieties of cream cheese at markets. As this is a dessert recipe, use plain cream cheese; preferably full-fat.
  • Brown sugar: It is better in baking but you can definitely use regular sugar. If you want refined sugar-free pastry roses, use coconut sugar instead.
  • Butter: For brushing the muffin tin. You can just use a cooking spray instead.

Alternative Add-Ins:

In addition to the ingredients above, you can also add:

  • cinnamon
  • walnuts
  • apricot jam

Note: If you want to use apricot jam in your puff pastry apple roses, leave brown sugar out. Also, you might need to use less cream cheese so that the roses are not overloaded.

How To Make

Making apple rose pastry is waaaaay easier than you think. The recipe has two main folds:

Preparing apples: Slice the apples (with their skin on) thinly, but don't make them paper thin. A sharp knife will work well for this. No need for a mandoline. Immediately transfer them into a water and lemon juice mixture. This will prevent them from losing their color. Cook them until slightly soft. Drain the apple slices and transfer them on a kitchen towel. Alternatively, you can microwave the apples on high power for 90 seconds.

Making apple roses following the steps below.

Cut a puff pastry sheet into 6-7 strips. Spread cream cheese and sprinkle sugar (and cinnamon if you want) over it or spread apricot jam.

Place apple slices on the upper edge of strips so that half of them overlaps one another and their skin side is sticking out. Fold up the bottom of the strip.

  • Hands rolling a puff pastry strip up filled with apple slices and cream cheese inside on a circular wooden board.
  • A hand holding a puff pastry strip with apples rolled into a rose.

Then roll it up. Please check out the images above to see how to make these steps.

Place them in a muffin tin and bake.

Tip on How To Keep The Baked Apple Roses From Getting Burnt: In our experience, they don't burn. But you might have that problem depending on the oven. So there is a very easy method to protect the roses. Just cover them loosely with foil and then bake.

Can I Make Roses With Another Fruit?

Apples work very well to make rose pastry, but peaches and pears work fine too. Haven't tried it yet, but persimmons could be another option. Worth trying. Would love to hear your ideas if you try this recipe with another fruit.

If you love puff pastry dessert recipes with fruit, check out Strawberry Puff Pastry Tartlets .

Apple roses made with a puff pastry sheet on a black plate

How To Serve

These puff pastry roses are perfectly flaky when served warm. We love to sift a little powdered sugar over them right before serving because they look even more beautiful that way. Alternatively, you can drizzle maple syrup or caramel sauce over them if you want them sweeter.

Holding a mini apple rose tart with powdered sugar

FAQs

Can I Use Pie Crust Instead of Puff Pastry?

Pie crust is not made of layers but puff pastry is. Pie crust is not that flaky when baked in muffin tins and might even cause uneven cooking. We recommend puff pastry.

Can I Freeze them?

Puff pastry desserts are the best on the day they are baked. So we don't recommend freezing baked apple roses. Baked apples are not very good in taste when thawed. Having said this, you can make these ahead, keep them in an airtight container up to two days at room temperature and reheat for 5 minutes when you want to serve.

Can I bake these puff pastry apple roses on a baking sheet?

You don't have a muffin tin? No worries. You can bake them one a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Just insert a toothpick towards the bottom of the rolled pastry strips so that they stand still.

More Fall Desserts

  • Cinnamon Baked Apple Slices Recipe

  • Cinnamon Apple Crumb Bars

  • Cinnamon Baked Pears Recipe

  • Spiced Poached Quinces Dessert

As always: If you make this recipe, let us know what you think by rating it and leaving a comment below. And post a pic on Instagram too—tag @give_recipe so we can see!

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Print

📖 Recipe

Puff Pastry Apple Roses

Woman with claret red sleeves holding a puff pastry apple rose on a dark background.

A super easy puff pastry apple rose recipe to impress your beloved ones with its fancy look.

  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 35 minutes
  • Total Time: 55 minutes
  • Yield: 6 1x
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: American
  • 2 cups water
  • 2 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 2 red apples (we used Jazz and Gala)
  • 6 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
  • ¼ cup cream cheese
  • 1 teaspoon butter, to brush muffin tin
  1. Combine water and lemon juice in a saucepan. Put it aside.
  2. Cut the apples in half and remove the core using a teaspoon or with a knife. Slice them thinly. They don't have to be paper thin. Transfer them into the water and lemon juice mixture. This will prevent the apple slices from turning brown.
  3. Put the saucepan on medium heat and bring it to boil. Let it simmer for 3-5 minutes just until the slices get flexible enough but not too soft or mushy. Drain the apples and let them cool.
  4. Place the puff pastry sheet on the counter. Cut it into 6 strips.
  5. Spread cream cheese on one of the strips. Sprinkle sugar over it.
  6. Place apple slices on the upper long edge of the pastry strip, slightly overlapping one another. Make sure the peel on the slices are not on the pastry so that they will look like rose petals when folded.
  7. Now fold the lower edge of the pastry strip, leaving half side of the apple slices(with the skin) out.
  8. Then start with one end and roll it up. You will see how it looks like a rose when you finish rolling.
  9. Place it in a buttered muffin tin. Repeat the same for the rest of the pastry strips. Sprinkle some sugar over each.
  10. Bake in a preheated oven (375F/190C) for 35-40 minutes.
  11. Serve warm, sifting powdered sugar over them (optional).

Notes

This is not a too sweet dessert, so if you want a sweeter taste, brush the baked apple roses with maple syrup or caramel sauce before eating.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size:
  • Calories: 334
  • Sugar: 15.8 g
  • Sodium: 140.1 mg
  • Fat: 19.8 g
  • Carbohydrates: 36.8 g
  • Protein: 3.8 g
  • Cholesterol: 11.5 mg

Keywords: puff pastry apple roses, baked apple roses

How to Make Apple Rose Tarts With Cream Cheese

Source: https://www.giverecipe.com/puff-pastry-apple-roses/