100g pistachios, coursly ground plus extra for garnish
100g walnuts, coarsely ground
1 lemon
Sugar syrup
1 cup (220g) caster sugar
Lemon juice & peel
Salt
1 cinnamon stick
4 cloves
2 bay leaves
METHOD
Take the kataifi pastry out of the fridge 2 hours before baking to come to room temperature.
Use a speed peeler to peel the lemon and set aside for the sugar syrup. Make a bowl of lemon water by cutting the lemons in half and squeezing the juice into it as well as adding the lemon carcass. This’ll flavour the apples, and give the bites extra zing.
Using the speed peeler again, peel the envy™ apples and cut in half and quarters and core. Place quarters in lemon water until ready to assemble.
Preheat oven to 180C C (160C Fan).
Grease a 12-hole muffin tin generously with the softened butter, then melt the rest on a gentle heat in a small pan. Stretch out the kataifi pastry and cut into 10 cm lengths and divide into 12, brushing on the melted butter with abandon.
Drain the apples and place on paper towel to dry. On a board make 12 “nests” and place a spoonful each of the nuts, then lay an apple quarter with another teaspoon each of ground nuts on top. Pull up the kataifi pastry and wrap around the apple.
Place each wrapped piece into the tray and brush liberally with butter, sprinkling each with sea salt flakes to finish.
Pop into the oven for 50 minutes until golden on top and bubbling around the edges.
In the meantime, make the sugar syrup by adding the sugar into a small saucepan with half a cup of water, lemon zest and juice, and the spices. Stir and bring to the boil and reduce heat for 2 minutes. Set aside until the golden goodies come out of the oven.
When the parcels are golden and crispy on top and bottom, pull them out of the oven and leave to cool for a minute or two, then use a spatula to scoop the parcels out onto a shallow platter.
Pour the syrup liberally and equally over each parcel and sprinkle with extra ground pistachio to finish.
Serve warm with pouring cream or cold with a coffee.
These will get soggy in the fridge, so best to consume within the day (or embrace the sog-factor, because the apples will hold steady and they’re still delish!)
4
10 mins
