My boy purchased some tasty little gala apples at the farm stand last weekend. He sliced one up and gave us all a taste. I hadn't been able to get that out of my mind so I stopped and picked up a few for myself yesterday afternoon.
This locally grown gala variety is quite small. The apples are very firm and crisp and sweet. I only bought a few for now. I hate to make a total transition to apples just yet. In a few weeks I'm planning to source some apples that will be perfect for applesauce. It will be my first attempt at making and canning this apple pantry staple.
For now, I just wanted a little tease of fast approaching fall. Although it's still in the 90's temperature wise around here I felt like a small preview of things to come. A hint of baked apple and cinnamon wafting through the kitchen.
I have never used puff pastry before. Normally I would stick with something familiar and throw together an apple crisp. I have to admit...I LOVE pie and I thought about making the apples into a pie. The other thing I have to admit is that I make lousy pie crust. :( I have tried many times and many recipes. I don't know why I can't get it quite right. I mean, it's edible, but not great. I don't want to say I've completely given up on pie crust...but, I'm close. Anyway...I was shopping at Whole Foods the other day and contemplated buying an organic frozen pie crust. I'm owning the fact that I have done this in the past. Usually to make quiche or a pot pie. Instead I noticed a box of puff pastry. Rarely do I buy frozen processed food. But after a quick look at the puff pastry ingredients I decided I felt okay about giving it a go.
Sorry...this picture is a bit blurry but you can see that there isn't anything too scary in the ingredients.
Oh, now may be a good time to say a few things about Whole Foods. There are lovers and haters of this large grocery chain for sure. The thing I like the most about shopping there is that the products do not have HFCS. That is big for me. Since virtually every processed food on the planet has HFCS it is nice I don't have to worry about that when shopping. Also, from MY personal experience, I don't find it any more expensive than anywhere else I grocery shop. In fact, many of the products I purchase are less expensive there. No, they aren't GMO free at this point. That is such a complicated issue and something that will be a concern for years to come. I do appreciate that Whole Foods is working towards a solution to the whole GMO thing in the next few years. However self-serving it may be for Whole Foods, it will still benefit me and those that want to shop GMO labeled products. Okay...now back to the tarts!
I threw a box of the puff pastry in my cart. Now, this was something that was NOT inexpensive at Whole Foods. I splurged a little for sure. I would guess you can find many other brands of puff pastry. I would also guess there are many full of preservatives and additives. Had I not thought these ingredients were on my approved list I would have been making the apple crisp!
The small but juicy and delicious gala apples.
I squeezed the juice of a lemon over the apples and tossed them around.
Then I drizzled them with local raw honey and sprinkled a tad of cinnamon on them. I also threw in an 1/8th of a tsp. of kosher salt. I stirred them gently and made sure they were nicely coated. I let them sit for about 10 minutes.
I wasn't really sure what the puff pastry was going to be like size-wise. It turns out there was a really large piece of dough. I actually cut it in half and refrigerated one half. The instructions stated it would keep for 2 more days in the fridge. (I'm sure I can come up with something for the rest!) Maybe something savory? Not sure...
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