Rose Pastries

What do you do for flowers on romantic occasions when your Beloved has a pollen allergy?

Make edible roses, of course!

Not everyone appreciates getting flowers for Valentines day, for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it's allergies, sometimes it's principles, sometimes it's as simple as having a black thumb and not wanting to take care of the blooms until they die.

Unfortunately, there's only so many Everlasting Arrangements (dried, metal or plastic) that you can fit into a single dwelling, Everlasting Arrangements still need to be dusted, too, and that's another thing that sets off my Beloved's asthma.

So, adoring and enterprising partners have come up with alternative solutions.

One of those solutions is edible roses

The most popular version is using Orchid fruits like apples or peaches wrapped with puff pastry, but honestly, you can make these with just about anything that can be sliced thinly.

The first time I made these, we were both broke on Valentine's day, but still wanted something special. So, I was scrounging through my fridge for something to make for dinner. I had pizza dough, tomato paste, and salami, and I'd seen a youtube video on how to make apple roses the week before...

The best part was being crammed into Lyndal's tiny kitchen, talking and laughing as I swore at the pizza dough and finally managed to get the finnicky things into the oven. Pizza dough stretches easily, but it doesn't like to stay stretched while you roll the roses.

We did have a very nice Valentine's dinner that year, though.

You Will Need...

• Cupcake tray (12 holes)
• Saucepan or Microwave-safe dish
• Any hard or semi-hard fruit, sliced
• Puff Pastry
• Jam
• Cinnamon (whole or ground)
• Nutmeg (whole or ground)
• Allspice (whole or ground)
• Cloves (whole or ground)
• Blackcurrant Juice for flavour and colouring (optional)

The spices are my preferred blend, but you can honestly use or exclude whatever you think goes best with the fruit you're using. When I brought some into the office, one of the Psychologists, who was born in Eastern Europe, suggested cardamon as a future experiment. One of our Occupational Therapists suggested rosewater, which is commonly used in Middle-Eastern desserts.

I haven't had the opportunity to try either one yet, but it's an idea for the future.

Method

1. Core your apples and slice them thinly
2. Add spices and enough water to cover
3. Cook the apples until they're soft but not mushy (this takes about 1 minute on high in the microwave, and about 15 on the stovetop)
4. Thaw and roll out your puff pastry
5. Cut the Pastry into strips about 2 inches wide
6. Brush the pastry with jam of your choice (if you're making a savory variation, use sauce, tomato paste or pickle relish)
7. Lay the apples out along the pastry, overlapping slightly
8. Fold the bottom half of the pastry up and press to seal
9. Starting at one short end, roll the pastry into a scroll and place in the muffin tin
10. Bake at about 180 degrees C (or 300 F for anyone who uses that metric) for about 30 minutes
11. Dust with sugar and serve warm

Savory Variant Substitutions

If you're using chicken or ham, substitute mustard for Jam, and a lemon and herb spice mix

For beef, use pickle relish or a mild mustard. For a kick, you can add the spice rub of your choice, or omit the spices entirely

For Salami or bacon, use tomato paste or BBQ sauce. Both are flavourful enough that you can get away without spices, or use an Italian Herb spice mix if you really want to

Sweet Variant Substitutions

For allergies or just a different flavour profile, use Cardamon and rosewater, or orange blossom water for a slightly stronger flavour, instead of the spices listed above.

Or experiment, it's your tastebuds.

I missed the deadline for entering this in the recent "Feast" challenge, but figured I'd post it anyway