Caramel Apple Bites
Jan 12
 |
As Thanksgiving was approaching, I decided to branch out with some ‘gourmet’ desserts – I felt like apples, caramel, and walnuts were a very fitting Fall choice so I opted to give these a whirl. Shortly before I headed home to start my baking project a friend talked me out of making the dough in the recipe from scratch and suggested using puff pastry instead – let’s be honest, I’m always game for a shortcut so I went with the suggestion. I think this particular change is why they required some improvisation later on, but they turned out better this way if you ask me.
Directions:
- In a small saucepan, combine the filling ingredients. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened; set aside to cool.
- Shape puff pastry dough into 1-inch balls. Flatten and place ¼ teaspoon filling in the center of each. Fold dough over filling and reshape into balls. Place one inch apart on greased baking sheets.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove and place on wire racks to cool. (The pastries should come out looking like the two pastries in the upper-right corner, but you can see the bulk of mine did not which is fine. They still taste great!)
- In a small saucepan over low heat, cook caramels and evaporated milk until caramels are melted; stir until smooth.
- Drizzle caramel over the top of each cookie, then sprinkle remaining walnuts on top. Place on wire racks to set.
I improvised with this in the end by drizzling the caramel on top vs. dipping the pastries in the caramel, then dipping again in the walnuts. I primarily did this because my fillings were exposed after I took them out of the oven and not really suitable for dipping. However, I actually liked this version a lot more than the two that were done the way the recipe originally called for.
I hope you like these as much as I did!
Printer Friendly PDF: Caramel Apple Bites
You can find the original version of this recipe on the Taste of Home website: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Caramel-Apple-Bites
