Apple balls

Gnocco di mele

For 10 apple balls

10 pieces of puff pastry measuring 13x13 cm

10 not too large golden or jonagold apples

100 grams of granulated sugar

1 tablespoon of cinnamon

1-2 eggs

Apple auger

rolling pin Flour to roll out

Small aluminum dishes (see photo).

🕐 30🔪 30 ⏱️ 👩🏼‍🍳 👩🏼‍🍳

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

2. Peel the apples and use an apple corer to remove the core. 3. Try to keep the stalk intact. Carefully cut off the top (with stem) of the heart and save it. Also cut off a piece, as big as the bottom hole of the apple from the heart part. 4. Now put at the bottom of the apple that small piece you took out of the heart: it functions as a "plug.

5. Mix the sugar with the cinnamon. Put a scoop of cinnamon sugar inside each apple. Be sure to leave enough to roll the apples in afterwards. 6. Place the piece of apple with stem on each apple so that the other side is also sealed. If you didn't manage to keep the stalk, make sure at least that part is properly sealed.

7. Now place an apple (stem side down) upside down on each puff pastry slice. 8. Fold the puff pastry all the way around the apple, wetting it if necessary to make it "stick. (If you have a stalk: stick extra well around the stalk, so no apple can be seen. You can still see the stalk). 9. Beat the egg(s) well. Sprinkle the remaining sugar-cinnamon mixture on a plate. Roll each apple ball through it. 10. Place the apple balls, seam side down, on the aluminum trays. And place these again on an oven tray covered with baking paper. 11. Slide the apple balls into the preheated oven and bake for about 25-35 minutes until golden brown. Check in between. It is normal for some sugar mixture to leak out. 12. Drain the apple balls on a wire rack and serve lukewarm.

👉🏾 Apple balls can also be filled with a mixture of sugar, cinnamon and almond paste.

👉🏾 With the apple balls you can serve a sauce. Such as a vanilla sauce made from 250 ml of whipping cream, 100 ml of milk, 4 egg yolks, a vanilla pod and 60 sugar. Cut the vanilla pod in half and scrape out the marrow. Put this pith with the stick and the whipping cream in a saucepan: bring to a gentle boil. In a batter bowl, mix the milk with the egg yolks and sugar. While stirring, pour the boiling cream into the milk mixture. Pour everything back into the pan and heat over low heat, stirring, until the vanilla sauce thickens. Keep whisking and make sure the sauce does not boil. Then pour the sauce through a sieve to remove the vanilla pod and lumps. Serve m lukewarm with the apple balls or over ice cream.

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Nice to know

Actually, my mother consisted of apple dumplings, sausage rolls and "mother cake. She always had those. Of course, she baked a lot more. Bread, Christmas bread and also sponge cakes, but no matter who you ask, those three were favorites. She gave them her own twist, so they were always much tastier than anyone else's. Like the "plugs" she put in the apple so that a delicious syrup formed inside.

Her baking skills were truly a sign of her hospitality. She always had something ready or she could defrost it quickly. Didn't get anything? Then you probably weren't very welcome either.