Blackberry & Apple Parcels

Ingredients

• 4 apples (about 120g each)
• 300g blackberries (fresh or frozen)
• 500ml cider (or water)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 50g caster sugar (for the apples)
• 100g caster sugar (for the sauce)
• 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
• a pinch of salt
• 500g shop-bought puff pastry
• 1 egg yolk

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 40 minutes
Serves: 4

Method

1. Remove the core form each apple, then put the apples, cinnamon and the 50g of sugar for the apples into a pan.
2. Pour in the cider, bring it up to the boil and then turn it down to a gentle simmer and cooked the apples for 15 minutes.
3. Carefully remove the apples from the pan and put them onto a plate to cool. When they are cold, peel off their skins (they should peel off quite easily although you may need to use a knife on some of them).
4. Roll out the pastry to a thickness of about ¼cm and then cut it into 4 squares, each approximately 3 times bigger than an apple.
5. Heat the oven to 200°c.
6. Put the egg yolk and 1 teaspoon of cold water into a cup and mix them together to make an egg-wash.
7. Put one apple into the middle of each square of pastry, push about 10 blackberries (or however many will fit) into the cavity inside each apple and then brush the outer 3cm of the pastry with the egg-wash.
8. Bring the corners of the pastry square together over the apple and firmly squeeze them together so that they hold. Then pinch down each of the 4 seams to seal them together.
9. Put the pastry parcels onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and put them into the oven for 25 minutes.
10. While the pastry parcels are cooking, make the blackberry sauce by putting the rest of the blackberries and the 100g of sugar for the sauce into a saucepan over a medium heat.
11. Bring the pan up to the boil and then turn it off.
12. Pour the blackberry mixture into a food processor, add in the lemon juice and a pinch of salt and blend it for about 1 minute. Then push the blackberry purée through a sieve into another bowl (don’t push too hard or the seeds will go through as well, which will make the sauce taste woody and be slightly unpleasant to eat).
13. When the apple parcels are cooked, remove them from the oven and serve with the blackberry sauce. Some double cream or icecream wouldn’t be a bad idea either...

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Useful Information

Can it be frozen? Yes.
Can it be prepared in advance? Yes, it can be finished up to 1 day in advance and reheated in the oven.
Will leftovers be nice? Yes, for up to 1 day.

Notes