This dessert is a cross between a baked apple and an apple pie. It has the wonderful flaky crust of a pie with a soft apple centre and a creamy caramel glaze. Note, this recipe makes four servings can be easily adjusted to make more or less.

Ingredients:
For the Apples:
4 Granny Smith Apples
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon,
1/4 cup unsalted butter, divided into 4 pieces
1 package puff pastry, room temperature
1 egg
1/2 tablespoon milk

For the Caramel:
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick)
3/4 cup heavy cream

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F

Unroll the puff pastry and cut each one into four pieces. In a small bowl mix the brown sugar and cinnamon. Peel and core the apples. ***TIP: I peeled the apples and and wrapped them in the pastry one by one to avoid the apples from browning while they waited to be wrapped. 

Roll the apple in the brown sugar/cinnamon mixture coating the entire apple and place on a quartered puff pastry piece.

Sprinkle a teaspoon of the brown sugar/cinnamon sugar mixture into the cored centre of the apple. Using 1/4 of the butter, cut into small pieces and place half into the centre on top of the sugar mixture. Repeat with another teaspoon of the sugar mixture and then the remaining half of the butter on top.

To wrap the apples, pull the longer corners of the pastry to the centre of the apple and press down. Bring up the remaining corners and using your fingers, pinch the pastry to make it adhere to each other and completely wrap the apple. 

Continue with the remaining apples, and place in a greased baking dish. You can garnish the top of the apples by cutting leaf shapes into another piece of puff pastry sheet and press on top.

In a small bowl mix the egg and milk to make an egg wash. Brush the top and sides of the pastry with the egg wash. Sprinkle with course sugar and place the apples into the freezer for 15 minutes. TIP: freezing the apples allows the puff pastry to harden so it does not open up or sink during baking, but don't leave them in the freezer because you don't want the apples to freeze, and not cook through when baking.

Remove from the freezer and place in the oven for 45 minutes or until the top of the puff pastry is golden brown. 

n the meantime, make the caramel for the apples. Place the sugar, water and lemon juice in a saucepan and let it come to a boil over high heat. Once it begins to boil turn the heat to medium and let it continue to simmer until it turns an amber colour (approximately 10 minutes). When the colour begins to change, watch it because it can go from perfect to burnt in minutes! ***Important Note: fight the urge to stir your sugar mixture at all while it is on the stove, if you stir it you will remove the moisture from the sugar and you will end up with rock candy instead of syrup. If it suppresses your desire to stir you can swirl the mixture around by gently using the handle of the saucepan to turn the pan in a gentle circular motion.***

When your sugar mixture turns the colour you want, turn the heat to low and add your butter, stirring while you add. The mixture will bubble up when you do this. Once the butter has melted, very carefully add your cream and continue to stir, again the mixture will bubble up. Continue to simmer the caramel on low heat for another 3 to 5 minutes, stirringconstantly. The mixture will have thickened but might still appear runny, that's okay, it will further thicken when it cools.

Remove from heat and allow to cool until just warm. 

Remove the apples from the oven, let them cool for 10 minutes before transferring to a shallow dish. Pour the caramel over the top and serve warm. You can even pair it with ice cream.