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What can I tell you about these crispy, rustic, sweet, caramelized Apple Ring Tarts (with a surprise brandy soaked cherry in the middle) that can be made in just a few minutes? Well, 'nuff said.
Apple Ring TartsThere are only a few ingredients to this:
Yet, the flavor is Classic American Apple Pie with buttery layers of French Puff Pastry. You can make a few of these using just a couple apples, or make enough for a banquet. 
There is something about biting into your own little apple tart that can make you feel cozy and connected no matter where you are eating. 
Recipe: Apple Ring Tarts
1 sheet of Puff Pastry
1-2 Apples (peeled, cored, and sliced in rings about 1/2" thick)
1/2 Lemon juiced + equal amount of water
1 cup Brown Sugar
2 Tbls. Cinnamon
**Optional (but so good) Dried Cherries - soak them in a few Tbls. of Brandy (or Apple Juice)**
1) Dust your work space with a little flour and roll out the Puff Pastry a few inches in all directions.
2) Dip each apple ring in a bowl of equal parts lemon juice and water, shake off the drips and hold for the next step.
3) Pour the brown sugar and cinnamon into a large zip-lock bag. Place a few apple rings in at a time and shake gently to coat thoroughly.
4) Place an apple ring on the rolled out puff pastry and cut a circle around the slice with at LEAST 1 inch extra all the way around. (I used the top of a large container to cut mine.)
Do this one apple ring at a time so you can use the space wisely.
5) Pull the sides of the pastry dough up and around each apple ring, crimping and pleating the dough as you go. Squeeze to make sure each crimp sticks to the other one.
6) Reuse the extra pastry dough by stacking pieces of it on top of each other and roll it back out. This preserves the layering in the puff pastry dough.
7) Drop a brandy (or Apple juice) soaked dried cherry in the center hole. Place the tarts on a parchment lined baking sheet and into a preheated 375F oven for 20-25 minutes.
Turn the pan once during the baking and if the dough has puffed in the middle just give a quick press down on the center to release the steam and continue cooking. Cool for a few minutes before removing from the pan.
Garnish with Powdered Sugar or a Honey glaze.
GREAT NeWs! These freeze well! Before cooking them, place the pan in the freezer and when frozen you can place them in a bag or container. Cook straight from the freezer onto a baking pan, just add a couple minutes cooking time if needed.
The apple slice is just soft enough, but still tangy. The pastry is flaky and melt-in-your-mouth. It's sweet without making your teeth ache. Then, there's that little brandy soaked cherry surprise to finish it off. What you don't know is that I have a few warm ones just waiting for me to stop talking, so~~
I'm a sucker for a bright Sweet Potato. Sometimes when I'm shopping I'll add a couple to my bag and assume I'll figure out what to make with them later. It's hard to go wrong with these terrific tubers.
SWEET POTATO, APPLE & CIDER PANCAKES
Sweet Potatoes have tons of Vitamin A, and Fiber and are very low in calories. They are so naturally sweet, you don't need a lot of sugar, even when you use them in dessert recipes. I love adding them to pancakes as a way of increasing nutrients at breakfast and they freeze so easily. Make a stack of these, freeze them individually, then bag them and take out the amount you need when you need it - toast 'em, and you've got hot potato pancakes with chunks of apple. 
They even make a great snack for kids who love having them in little silver dollar size like the ones I made here. The butter on top makes a good picture (and let's face it, butter is fatty-fun-tastic), but these are so moist with the apples and sweet potato bits, the tang of buttermilk and the apple cider that you don't really even need butter or syrup.
RECIPE: Sweet Potato, Apple & Cider Pancakes
1 1/4 Cups Flour
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 Tbls. Brown Sugar
1 Tbls. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
pinch of salt
1/2 cup Buttermilk
1 cup Apple Cider
2 eggs
1 Apple (peeled, cored, chopped small)
1 Med. Sweet Potato (Baked or Microwaved)
1) In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
2) In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs and apple cider 3) Stir together (the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients). Then fold in the apples and soft cooked insides of the sweet potato.
4) The batter should be thick, but loose. If too thick, add more cider or water. 
5) Heat a griddle, or flat bottom non stick skillet on Med/High. Brush on a tiny bit of oil or butter if needed. Don't let the butter burn.
6) Ladle a small amount of batter onto the hot skillet and cook until the sides form tiny bubbles, flip and cook the other side of that pancake until set and cooked through.
** If freezing, allow the pancakes to cool completely - then freeze spread out on a sheet pan until firm, then bag for later and return to freezer.
To reheat - heat in toaster oven or oven for about 6 minutes on 300F.
Today's "Let's Lunch" (the international virtual lunch date) entree is a chilled soup. Since it was coinciding with Back-To-School time and a Welcome Luncheon for teachers, I decided to go for apples. And looking for every chance to make the clean-up extra easy - why not make the bowl edible too? This is my Apple Bowl Curry Soup; ABC Soup for short.
The Let's Lunch group is an open invitation idea started by several creative Food Bloggers on Twitter, who were literally across the world from each other. It has become a delicious way to connect on lunch ideas, swap recipes and inspire each other. Now there are a whole group of us, and YOU are always welcome to join in the fun. You can find out about the next "Let's Lunch" by searching #letslunch on twitter, following any of us on twitter (@cheryltan88,, ,,
@), or leave a comment here.
Now...soup's on!
This is a very simple soup that has just a hint of curry and mint to give it interest and range of flavor. It does require a hardy crisp apple for the best bite and chilling the apple before cutting makes it easier to scoop out and maintain it's shape.
To prepare the apples, have fresh lemon juice handy to rub over and inside the apples so the flesh doesn't turn brown as it oxidizes.
Slice the wide top end from each apple, about 1/4 way down. Using a paring knife, carefully score around the inside of the apple, leaving about a 1/4 inch rim. 
Score an X across the apple to help break the core. Using a small spoon or a melon baller, scoop out the flesh of the apple, being careful to leave a good bottom inside and not cut through the apple skin.
Be sure to keep all the scooped out apple for the soup, discarding the seeds and core. Rub the cut rim and the insides of the apple bowl with fresh lemon juice to help keep the fresh color. Turn the prepared apples over on a parchment covered plate and chill in the refrigerator while preparing the soup.
Apple Curry Mint Soup
(serves 6)
4-6 cups of peeled & cored apple parts
2 Tbls. olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1/4 tsp. curry powder
juice of 1 lemon2-3 sprigs of fresh mint + more for garnish
2 1/4 cups vegetable stock salt/pepper to tasteIn a sauce pan, heat the olive oil on medium and saute onion, apple, curry, salt and pepper until the apple is soft. Add the stock and mint leaves - simmer low for 40 minutes. Cool, then add lemon juice and puree for a thick, rich soup. Chill well. Pour to serve. Garnish with creme fraiche and mint sprigs.
**For a thinner soup, just add more stock to the simmer.
** For more of a dessert soup, leave out the curry and add a tsp. of brown sugar instead.
Enjoy, but don't leave this apple on the teacher's desk - it might spill.
Get inspired by other chilled soups, being served at these blogs for today's Let's Lunch:
A Tiger In The Kitchen
The Naptime Chef
GeoFooding
BonVivant
Pinch My Salt
Cowgirl Chef
Serve It Forth
Blog Well Done
What can I tell you about these crispy, rustic, sweet, caramelized Apple Ring Tarts (with a surprise brandy soaked cherry in the middle) that can be made in just a few minutes? Well, 'nuff said.
Apple Ring Tarts
Yet, the flavor is Classic American Apple Pie with buttery layers of French Puff Pastry. You can make a few of these using just a couple apples, or make enough for a banquet. 
There is something about biting into your own little apple tart that can make you feel cozy and connected no matter where you are eating.
Recipe: Apple Ring Tarts 
7) Drop a brandy (or Apple juice) soaked dried cherry in the center hole. Place the tarts on a parchment lined baking sheet and into a preheated 375F oven for 20-25 minutes.
The apple slice is just soft enough, but still tangy. The pastry is flaky and melt-in-your-mouth. It's sweet without making your teeth ache. Then, there's that little brandy soaked cherry surprise to finish it off. What you don't know is that I have a few warm ones just waiting for me to stop talking, so~~
