Apple Dumplings

We are heading out to our friend's house and I need to make a quick and easy dessert. I would also like it to be a bit lighter of a dessert than say a cake or brownies. So I flip through my binder and find a recipe for Apple Dumplings. Perfect! This dessert was so easy to make and it looked great when plated. My only dilemma while making them was that I didn't have a tool to core the apples so it took a little longer for this step. I would highly recommend you get a tool to core the apples before you make this recipe. I have a tool I bought at IKEA to do this but in addition to coring the apple, it also slices it into wedges -- which wouldn't work for this recipe. Although the apple dumplings looked and tasted great when I made them, they would have looked even better if I could have kept them as one piece. You will see in the picture below that after they were baked, the two pieces separated a bit. Either way they still came out great. Enjoy!

Apple dumpling with caramel sauce and a side of vanilla ice cream.

Apple Dumplings with Caramel Sauce
Serves 6
Cooking time 40 minutes

Ingredients:
8 apples (I used Braeburn apples)

½ cup of dark brown sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 sheets of puff pastry dough
½ cup orange juice
1 egg
1 cup caramel sauce (next to chocolate syrup in the grocery store)
Vanilla ice cream (optional)

Directions: Preheat oven to 400°F. In a bowl mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together. Set aside. Peel and core all six apples -- try to keep them in one piece or if you do not have a coring tool, cut in half and core. Drizzle the peeled and cored apples with orange juice to slow the apples from browning. Start with one sheet of puff pastry and cut into 4 squares. You will then only need half of the other sheet of puff pastry or you can make 8 apples instead of 6 to use it all. Place an apple in the center of each square and pack with sugar mixture. Pull up all four corners of the puff pastry to the top of the apple and press together to seal them. Place on an ungreased baking pan. Once all the apples are wrapped in puff pastry and on the baking sheet, lightly beat the egg and brush it on the puff pastry. Bake for 40 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. Once they are baked, pour some caramel sauce on a plate and place the apple dumpling on top of sauce. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Here are the apples peeled, cut in half and cored. I then took 2 pieces and stuffed one side with the sugar mixture and then placed the other half on top. I then put this on the puff pastry square -- making sure to keep the pieces together. 

The stuffed apple wrapped and ready to go into the oven.