Here’s cheers to what will probably be the first of many fall apple recipes around here, especially given how many apples we tend to pick on apple picking excursions – and the number of apples our neighbors, who have a beautiful Granny Smith apple tree, have been giving us! There is nothing, nothing, like fresh fruit right off the tree. No pesticides, no preservatives, no fake wax shine, nothing but gorgeous pure flavor. I can’t wait to plant some fruit trees of our own!
Some of our harvest will become applesauce. Some will be baked and served with ice cream and caramel. Some will be chopped into a crock pot with pork loin, some will be sautéed in butter and sugar for caramel apple pork chops and cinnamon apple pancakes, and others will turn into pies.
But here I decided to play with one of my favorite flavor combinations – apples and Gorgonzola cheese. I make a salad that’s almost the same flavors I used in this dish. Chopped apples, fresh Gorgonzola, bacon bits, crumbled pecans, fresh greens, and sweet blush wine vinaigrette. Combine all those flavors and swap out the blush vinaigrette for a tablespoon of maple syrup and the fresh greens for puff pastry, and you have this sinfully sweet and fresh tartlet.
It’s a cheese course and a savory dessert all combined into one, and it’s perfect for a happy hour appetizer or a dinner party finale!
Apple Gorgonzola Tartlets with Pecans and Maple Drizzle
Makes 6 Tartlets
What You’ll Need:
- 13 oz. {1 package} ready-rolled puff pastry, thawed
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 7 oz. Gorgonzola cheese
- Smoked paprika
- 4 tbsp heavy cream
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 3 tablespoons bacon bits or crumbled bacon
- 2-3 ripe apples
- 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
How to Make Them:
1. Preheat your oven to 425F and set the pastry out on the counter to warm. Leave it out for at least 10-15 minutes to thaw so it’s easily pliable.
2. Cut the pastry in half horizontally, and then cut each piece into three even{ish} pieces so that you have 6 equal sized portions.
3. With your knife, score each of the squares about 1/2 inch from each of the edges to make a border. Brush the border with the lightly beaten egg, making sure you don’t cover the score {you want the edges of the pastry to puff up, and they won’t if they’re full of egg}.
4. In a small bowl, mix the Gorgonzola with the cream and a few healthy shakes of paprika for flavor. Spread a spoonful of the mixture over the bases of the tartlets, again, making sure you don’t cover the score making the border. Sprinkle with pecans and bacon bits.
5. Slice the apples into quarters, and then cut the quarters into halves or thirds, depending on your preference. Lay the apple wedges over the tartlet filling to your preference. Then drizzle with a half-tablespoon of maple syrup.
6. Bake the tartlets for 15 minutes, or until the puff pastry has browned and puffed up.
7. Let cool 5 minutes, and then serve with a crisp white wine with apple notes. A chilled tawny port also makes a great pairing for this dish!
Yes, I’m celebrating being able to have a celebratory glass of adult beverage now and then after pregnancy! Did you know that if you’re breast feeding, you can order these special strips to make sure there’s no alcohol in your milk before you feed? This works great for us because little man won’t take anything but a bottle after his time in the special care nursery, so I know when I can pump and when I just have to get him something from our fridge stash.
We are also dying to try a tartlet like this with apples, goat cheese, and honey. Lucky for us, we have plenty of apples, but the Apple Orchard Trail near our house actually has an apple orchard on it, and so there’s plenty of apples out there for us to go pick if we run out of apples from the farm or from our neighbors. Who am I kidding? We are never going to make it through all these apples!
What are your favorite apple combinations?
