Äpfel im Schlafrock (Apples in their dressing gowns)
Baked apples wrapped in buttery pastry are sweet and simple. You can use store-bought pastry or try our classic recipe below.
Ingredients
4 small firm apples
1 cup chopped dates (or sultanas) and walnuts (optional)
butter pastry (see below) or store-bought puff pastry, cut into four 15–18cm squares
jam, to glaze
icing sugar, to serve
Serves 4
Method
Preheat oven to 200°C (180°C fan-forced).
Butter the base of a baking dish large enough to hold the apples or line the dish with baking paper.
Peel and core the apples, and fill with the dates, or sultanas, and nuts, if using.
Place each apple in the centre of a pastry square and wrap it by taking each corner of the pastry across the top of the apple. Squeeze together the pleats of pastry that form on the sides and trim off the excess to leave a neat seam. You can reroll the excess pastry and cut it into decorative shapes to adorn the apple, if desired. Pierce the pastry in several places with the tip of a sharp knife to prevent it splitting during cooking. Transfer the apples to the baking dish and brush the pastry lightly with the jam.
Bake for 20–30 minutes, or until the apples have softened to your liking (test with a skewer) and the pastry is nicely browned. (If the apples need longer but the pastry is browning too quickly, lower the temperature and cook for a little longer.) Allow the apples to rest for a few minutes before dusting them with the icing sugar, then serve.
Classic butter pastry*
220g plain flour
1 teaspoon caster or icing sugar (optional)
100g butter, cut into small cubes and chilled
2–3 tablespoons iced water
Combine the flour and sugar, if using, in a mixing bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Mix in 1 tablespoon of iced water, then add more water, a teaspoon at a time, to form a firm but smooth dough. Roll the dough into a ball, cover it in cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Divide the dough into four pieces and roll out each piece on a floured board to the desired size and thickness.
*This pastry recipe is not from the Seidler collection.
Translation from the original German
Apples in their dressing gowns
Whole apples, small where possible.
Cores removed, wrapped in square butter pastry sheets, a dab of jam and then sprinkle sugar over the top.
No quantities or further instructions for cooking the apples or making the pastry are provided for the recipe.
The original recipe appears on page 1 of the folio of sweet recipes, along with a handwritten orange cake recipe.
Translated by Avril Vorsay
Published on
Dr Jacqui Newling
Curator
Jacqui is a passionate public historian, her curatorial practice shaped by a hungry mind. Jacqui has a PhD in History and a Le Cordon Bleu Master’s Degree in Gastronomy. Interrogating and interpreting history, place, and social culture through a gastronomic lens, she is a leading voice in Australian food culture and identity in settler-colonial contexts, past and present. Her doctoral thesis examines the role of food and food insecurity in the founding of colonial NSW. Jacqui is author of the award-winning book Eat Your History: stories and recipes from Australian kitchens, 1788-1950. She co-curated the Eat Your History: A Shared Table exhibition at the Museum of Sydney, and is the ‘Cook’ in the blog, The Cook and the Curator. Jacqui curated a series of ‘hands-on’ gastronomy programs in our house museums and in the Villages of the Heart partnership in regional NSW. Jacqui’s curatorial expertise also extends beyond the kitchen – she curated the End of Transportation digital exhibit at the Hyde Park Barracks, the Collected exhibition and Enchanted valley digital interactive at Museum of Sydney and was a co-curator in the Unrealised Sydney and History Reflected exhibitions
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