Are you looking for the perfect sweet treat to serve to your friends this summer? Whether you’re whipping up a dessert for a balmy barbecue or family-friendly garden party, we’ve discovered three delicious recipes that will see you through any summer soiree.
Best of all? You can make them with this season’s ultimate fruity ingredient – Pink Lady® apples, which are dubbed as the ultimate cooking companion because they hold their shape and add a divine natural sweetness to dishes.
Guaranteed to impress your friends, these delightful recipes will make you the ‘host with the most’ this season. So go on, get baking!
Elegant Pink Lady® Apple roses in puff pastry
Ingredients
- 2-3 Pink Lady® apples- 1 lemon, squeezed- 50g melted butter- 1 sheet of ready rolled puff pastry- 2 tbsp cinnamon- 3 tbsp caster sugar- Icing sugar, enough to sprinkle
Method
1. Preheat your oven to 180° or Gas Mark 4.2. Remove the cores of the apples and cut into halves. Thinly slice the apples and place into a microwaveable bowl with the lemon juice to prevent browning.3. Cover the bowl with cling film and microwave the apples on a high setting for 1-2 minutes and leave to cool.4. Unroll the puff pastry sheet and place onto a lightly floured surface. Slice the pastry lengthways into six even strips.5. Brush each strip of pastry with melted butter and sprinkle over an even layer of the cinnamon and caster sugar.6. Starting at one end of the pastry, place the apple slices along the pastry and half-way up the strip. Make sure to overlap the slices slightly as you go and leave a few centimetres of a gap at the end to stick the pastry together.7. Fold over the bottom half of the strip and begin the roll from the end you placed the apples first. Lightly press the few centimetres of excess to stick the pastry together.8. Place each rose into a lined muffin mould and bake for 30 minutes.9. Once cooked, leave the roses to cool on a wire rack and then sprinkle with icing sugar to serve.
Refreshing Pink Lady® Apple and lemongrass granita
Ingredients
- 5 Pink Lady® apples- 2 sticks of lemongrass, roughly chopped- Juice of ½ large lemon or 1 lime- 1 ½ tbsp agave nectar
Method
1. Core 4 apples, cut into quarters and place two of the apples into a blender with the lemongrass, lemon juice, agave nectar and 200ml of cold water. Blend the mixture until smooth.2. Place a sieve over a bowl and pour in the blended apple. Press the mixture through with a spoon to separate as much liquid as possible and discard the pulp.3. Wash the blender and add in the two other remaining apples and the apple mixture. Blend again until it’s smooth.4. Pour this mixture into a 1L freezer-proof container and freeze for two hours.5. Scrape away any ice crystals from the edge of the tub with a fork and return the tub to the freezer.6. Continue freezing and scraping the crystals until you achieve a light crystalline texture. Leave the tub in the freezer until you are ready to serve.7. To serve, core and thinly slice the remaining Pink Lady® apple. Spoon the granita into chilled glasses and top with the apple slices. Ooh la la!
Scrumptious Pink Lady® Apple and rhubarb tart
Ingredients
- 2-3 Pink Lady® apples- 300g rhubarb, chopped- 90g sugar- 2 tsp cornflour- 1 package of ready-rolled light puff pastry- 1 egg, beaten
Method
1. In a small saucepan, place the rhubarb, sugar and five tbsp of water. Cover the pan with a lid and cook over a low heat setting until the rhubarb is soft and falling apart. Taste and add more sugar if desired. Leave to cool then set aside one third of the rhubarb mixture.2. Blend the remaining two thirds of the mixture with a hand blender or in a food processor. Return this mix to the saucepan and mix ½ tsp of the cornflour with a drop of water to form a paste and then add to the pan. Cook the mix gently until it thickens slightly, then leave to cool.3. Remove the cores from the apples and cut into 2-3mm thick slices. Cut out shapes in the slices using a small cookie cutter.4. Unroll the puff pastry and put onto a baking tray. Approximately 1.5cm from the edge, score a border using a sharp knife. Spoon over the rhubarb mix and smooth into an even layer. Cover with the cut-out apple shapes.5. Brush the border with the beaten egg and place the tart in the oven for 20 mins until pastry is golden brown.6. Make the rhubarb glaze while the tart is baking – tip the remaining one third of the rhubarb mix into a sieve over a bowl and press with a spoon to collect the juice.7. Put the juice in a saucepan and mix the remaining cornflour with part of the rhubarb juice and add to the pan. Heat until the mix has slightly thickened. If the mix becomes too thick, remedy this by adding a small amount of water.8. Once cooked, remove the tart from the oven and leave to cool slightly. Using a pastry brush, sweep over the tart with the glaze.9. Serve with an accompaniment such as ice cream and indulge!
To discover more delicious recipes using Pink Lady® apples, head to pinkladyapples.co.uk