So… During “Celebrate sweet treats”, I managed to acquire a nice big roll of phyllo dough. I only used a small amount of it, so into the fridge it went.

This morning I decided I wanted to try something different. I didnt really have access to the kitchen to make breakfast (my husband was in and out of there all morning, and he had his work cell phone practically sewn onto his ear, so I couldnt really bother him.)

So I went without breakfast. Actually, I had a bowl of cereal. I ate it too quickly to photograph it. *giggle*

Sometime around 2pm I found myself home alone and kinda hungry. Not neccessarily for a full meal, or anything heavy. I wanted something kinda sweet, but not OVERLY sweet.

I sought refuge in my refridgerator.

Somewhere deep under the contents of the cheese drawer, I found it stareing up at me. The box of phyllo dough. I told it that its not polite to stare, but it held its ground. Finally, I gave in. Something must be done with this phyllo dough. Afterall, it wouldnt be long before I’d totally forget about it and it neverbashfulwithbutter.comhttp://www.neverbashfulwithbutter.comwould go to waste, having to be thrown out because I didnt seal it up so well after the last time I used it.

Lo and behold, I had to trim about 2 inches around all the sides because it had dried up.

I returned to the fridge and got myself some butter and some apples. I figured I’d just make a couple apple strudel type dealies, and got to preparing the phyllo for the muffin cups so I could make little personal sized snacks.

I got to thinking, and I realized I wanted something other than strudel. wanted something a little milder in flavour.

Thinking back on last week’s desserts, I remembered how great the custards I had made tasted… so I thought I’d go with that.

But apples in custard?

Sure, why not.

I whipped up a little ‘custard’ and chopped up some granny smith apples, mixing it all up with some chopped almonds (which I also layered in the phyllo cups) Poured it into the phyllo cups and topped the mixture with another phyllo sheet.

I baked it for a little while, until it ‘looked done” and pulled it out of the oven.

The smell was HEAVENLY. Baked almonds, apples, custard. mmm..

I popped one of the filled phyllo cups out of the tin and figured what better to go with a hot apple ‘anything’ than a scoop of vanilla ice cream. We only have gelato at the moment, and it did just fine.

I drizzled some of my homemade butterscotch on top and paired it with some fresh sliced apples and voila!

Custards last stand-

I’m kind of amazed at how good it ended up tasting. I didnt really work from a recipe (though I wrote it down as I went) and I’d never had apples in custard before. The sweetness of the butterscotch really did help even out the slightly salty flavour of the phyllo dough as well.

In any case, I’m now the proud owner of like, 11 of these (I ate the 12th, hehe) so I think I’ll keep them in the fridge and bring them to my moms house to have with dinner tomorrow. Everyone will probably like these, they’re not overpowering at all, and really arent Super rich or anything.

here is my amazingly simple, original recipe-

2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 medium/large sized (or 3 small) tart apples (I prefer granny smith)
1 roll phyllo dough
1/2 cup clarified butter
1-2 cups crushed roasted unsalted almonds
you’ll also need-
pastry brush
muffin tin (makes 12+ tarts, so you’ll want at least 12 muffin cups)
a clean damp towel that has most of the moisture squeezed out

Alright. This is simple.

pour the sugar into a bowl. Add the extracts and stir. Let it sit about 5 minutes. Add the egg yolks and stir, mixing the egg yolks in completely. Add the cream and stir until the sugar has completely dissolved. I use a whisk and fluff up the mixture a bit. Probably about 10 minutes of stirring. Put the mixture into the fridge.

Take out your thawed roll of phyllo dough. Cut into stacks of 4×4 inch squares. Any phyllo that you’re not working with needs to be covered with the lightly dampened towel, or it will dry up.

Prepare the muffin tin by buttering each of the muffin cups using the melted clarified butter and pastry brush. Place three layers of phyllo dough in each cup, butter again and sprinkle about a tablespoon of crushed almonds in each. Place another three layers of phyllo ontop of the almonds and butter the top. Repeat until all of the muffin cups are buttered and have the phyllo dough and almonds in them. Cover with lightly dampened towel.

Peel your apples. Slice and core them. Cut each apple slice into small chunks. How small is your preference. I like small pieces so I chop mine into approximately 1/2″x1/2″ pieces.

Place a layer of chopped apples in each of the phyllo cups. Sprinkle each layer of apples with another tablespoon or so of chopped almonds.

Remove the custard mixture from the refridgerator and pour just enough custard into the cupsu to completely cover the apples and almonds. If you put too much in, the custard wont cook before the phyllo burns. Top each custard filled phyllo cup with another layer of phyllo and either brush the tops with more melted butter or spray oil over top.

Place muffin pan on the third rack down (so there is plenty of space between the phyllo tops and the broiler) in a preheated 275 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Check to be sure the phyllo hasnt burned, and then turn the heat up to 350 for another 10 minutes.

take out of the oven and put directly into the fridge.

Once cool, top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and butterscotch sauce OR, drizzle a little honey on top and sprinkle with some more almonds.

Both ways are tasty. mmm.. so good.

-A.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 28th, 2008 at 1:58 pm and is filed under February 2007. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.