Description
Buttery puff pastry topped with thinly sliced apples, cinnamon sugar, and finished with a drizzle of caramel sauce. These elegant pastries look fancy but are surprisingly simple to make, perfect for dessert or brunch.
Ingredients
1 sheet puff pastry (the frozen kind, thawed but cold)
2 medium apples (whatever you’ve got works)
6 tablespoons regular sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt (the good kind if you have it)
1½ tablespoons butter
4–6 tablespoons caramel sauce from a jar
Ice cream if you wanna get crazy
Instructions
Crank your oven to 425°F. Yeah, that’s hot. Trust me on this one. Hot oven = puffy pastry. I learned this the hard way when I tried baking at 350° and got sad, flat rectangles.
While that’s heating up, deal with your apples. Core them and slice as thin as you can manage without cutting yourself. I’m not gonna lie, this is the most annoying part. Take your time. Thick slices won’t cook properly and thin slices look way more professional.
Mix your sugar, cinnamon, and salt in whatever bowl you’ve got handy. Whisk it around so it’s all combined. This step takes about ten seconds but makes you feel like you’re actually cooking.
Unroll your puff pastry onto a cookie sheet. If it’s gotten warm and sticky, stick it in the fridge for a few minutes. Cold pastry = happy pastry. Hot, sticky pastry = disaster.
Cut it into six rectangles. Don’t stress about making them perfect – rustic looks intentional anyway. Then grab a fork and poke each piece in the middle a bunch of times. This keeps the center from puffing up too much and gives your apples somewhere to sit.
I used to skip the fork part because I thought it was stupid. Then I made a batch where all the apples slid off these giant puffy domes. Learn from my mistakes.
Here’s where it gets fun. Lay your apple slices on each rectangle in overlapping rows, like you’re making little apple shingles. Pack them on there pretty good – they shrink when they cook and you want plenty of apple in each bite.
Sprinkle that cinnamon sugar all over everything. Be generous. Some will fall off or melt away, so don’t be stingy. Then plop a piece of butter on top of each one. The butter melts and bastes everything while it cooks. Sounds fancy but it’s just melted fat making things taste better.
Stick them in the oven and set a timer for 18 minutes. Don’t open the oven door to peek. I know it’s tempting but you’ll let the heat out and mess up the puffing process.
After 18 minutes, take a look. They should be golden brown and puffed up around the edges. If they need another couple minutes, fine. My oven runs hot so mine are usually done at 17 minutes. Yours might need 20. Just watch for golden brown.
This part you gotta do fast. Soon as you take them out, drizzle caramel sauce all over them while they’re still hot. The hot pastry helps the caramel soak in a little without making things soggy.
Serve them right away. With ice cream if you’ve got it. The hot-cold thing is really good. My kids fight over who gets the first one, so maybe make extra.
Notes
Apple slicing reality check: This is honestly the worst part of the whole recipe. If you’ve got one of those mandoline slicers, use it. Set it thin and run those apples through. Way faster than doing it by hand and you get even slices.
No mandoline? Sharp knife and patience. I’ve tried using a cheese slicer before – works okay if you’re desperate. The key is keeping the slices about the same thickness so they cook evenly.
Caramel temperature matters: Cold caramel from the fridge is thick and hard to drizzle. Room temperature flows better. I usually take mine out when I start prepping everything else. Or microwave it for like fifteen seconds to loosen it up.
Butter cutting trick: Cut your butter while it’s cold – way easier to get thin, even slices. Then let those pieces sit out for a few minutes before you put them on the apples. This way they melt evenly instead of sitting there like hard chunks.
Don’t crowd the pan: Give your pastries some room to puff up. I tried cramming them all close together once and they stuck to each other. Not cute.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American