Appelpunt

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Baking tray
• •Parchment paper
• •Sharp knife
• •Mixing bowl and whisk or hand mixer

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook the apples

   Put the diced apples, raisins, brown sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, and nutmeg into a wide pan over medium heat. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until the apples have softened at the edges but still hold their shape. Stir in the cornstarch and cook for 1 minute more, until the juices look glossy and cling to the fruit. Spread the filling on a plate and let it cool completely.

   Do not put hot apple filling on puff pastry. Butter is what makes the layers rise, and hot filling melts it before the oven has a chance to do its work.
2. 2

   Build the slab

   Heat the oven to 200C. Line a baking tray with parchment. Lay one cold puff pastry sheet on the tray and prick it all over with a fork, leaving a 2 cm border untouched. Spoon the cooled apple filling over the pricked pastry, keeping that border clean, then brush the border with beaten egg.

3. 3

   Seal the pastry

   Lay the second pastry sheet over the apples and press the edges firmly together with a fork. Trim only if you must; a slightly uneven edge is still a bakery edge once it is sugared. Brush the top with beaten egg, cut three small slashes in the surface, and scatter with coarse sugar.

4. 4

   Bake until crisp

   Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the pastry is deep golden, puffed, and crisp at the edges. If the top browns before the underside feels firm when lifted gently with a spatula, move the tray to a lower oven rack for the last 5 minutes. Soggy bottoms have no defender in the archive.

5. 5

   Cool and cut

   Let the pastry cool on the tray for at least 30 minutes. Cut it first into four squares, then cut each square diagonally to make eight punten, points. Wipe the knife between cuts if you want the apple layers to show cleanly.

6. 6

   Whip the cream

   Beat the cold cream with the icing sugar and vanilla until it holds soft folds. Spoon or pipe a generous cloud onto each apple point just before serving. The cream should sit lightly, not stand at military attention.

Chef Tips

• •Use tart apples. Elstar is very Dutch and very good here; Goudreinet, the old cooking apple, gives a softer filling. Sweet eating apples collapse into jam and make the pastry sulk.
• •All-butter puff pastry matters. Margarine-based pastry can puff, yes, but it misses the dairy richness that makes a simple applepunt taste like a banketbakker made it.
• •Serve the cream at the last moment. Whipped cream belongs on the wedge, not soaked into it, and the pastry stays crisp longer if the two meet only at the table.

Advance Preparation

• •The apple filling can be cooked up to two days ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator.
• •The baked pastry is best the day it is made, but it can be cooled, covered loosely, and kept at room temperature for one day. Add whipped cream only when serving.
• •To refresh leftovers, warm the uncreamed pastry in a 180C oven for 8 minutes, then cool slightly before adding cream.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 210g)