Serve with vanilla ice cream or caramel sauce

By MICHAELLA IRLBECK for the Flathead Beacon

Ingredients:

• 1 package puff pastry

• 6-8 apples

2 cups mascarpone cheese, room temperature

• 1 cup cinnamon sugar

• 1 egg

• 2 Tbsp. water

• Lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan.

Remove the puff pastry from its box, and cut along the three folds. Roll each piece of puff pastry out lengthwise until each strip is about 2-feet long. Cut each strip in half lengthwise so you now have six pieces that are 2 feet by 2 inches.

Spread 2-3 Tbsp. of mascarpone cheese on each piece of puff pastry. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on the mascarpone cheese.

Cut the apples off of the core and thinly slice. Toss with a little bit of lemon juice to keep the apples from turning brown.

Lay the apple slices on the puff pastry slightly overlapping the edges. You want the rounded edges of the apple with the peel overhanging the puff pastry and the flat edge to be in the center of the puff pastry. Repeat so you have two layers of apples on each puff pastry strip.

Fold the bottom half of the puff pastry over the apple slices. Don’t cover the apple slices, you want to see the top part of the apples with the peel.

Mix the egg and the water to form an egg wash. Brush the egg wash on the puff pastry. Cut each strip in half lengthwise so you now have 12 1-inch puff pastry lengths. Roll each strip up like a cinnamon roll. Place in the muffin tins and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the puff pastry is golden brown and done.

If the apples are turning brown before the puff pastry is baked, cover the roses with tinfoil.

Let cool for 10 minutes before taking out of the pan. Serve with vanilla ice cream or caramel sauce.

Michaella Irlbeck is the executive sous chef at the Culinary Institute of Montana at Flathead Valley Community College. For more information about the program, visit www.culinaryinstituteofmt.com.