Odenwald Apple Trilogy

Ingredients for 6 servings:

• 300 ml apple cider or apple juice
• some lemon juice
• 63 g gelling sugar 3:1
• 2 cl Calvados
• 1 apple for the apple pearls
• 2 large apples
• 60 ml apple juice
• 20 g marzipan paste
• some cinnamon powder
• 1 pinch of orange zest
• 1 tbsp rum raisins
• 1 tbsp cranberries, marinated in Calvados
• 1 tbsp butter
• 3 sheets of white gelatin
• 2 egg yolks
• 3 egg whites
• 1 tsp powdered sugar
• 150 g cream
• 1 jar cranberry jam
• 1 roll of (to taste) dough from the refrigerated section
• 2 tbsp cane sugar
• 1 large red apple
• some cinnamon powder
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp apricot jam or apple jelly
• 1 tbsp powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Rest time approx. 2 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour 20 minutes; Total time approx. 4 hours 20 minutes

Apple soup, baked apple mousse and apple roses

For the apple soup: Gently heat the juice or must with the lemon juice in a saucepan. Gradually add the gelling sugar, stirring constantly. Let the juice boil briskly for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir over ice until cold. When the juice begins to thicken and has cooled, pour in the Calvados and stir in. Use a small apple melon baller to cut pearls out of the well-washed apple. Now pour the soup into glasses or bowls, always sprinkling a few pearls in. For the baked apple mousse: Preheat the oven to 175°C. Wash the apples, quarter them, and core them. Then roughly dice them. Place the apple pieces in a baking dish. Roast the flaked almonds in a non-stick pan without fat until golden brown. Knead the butter with the marzipan, cinnamon powder, and orange zest. Now add the almonds, rum raisins, cranberries and marzipan to the apples and mix. Pour apple juice over everything, place the casserole dish in the oven and bake for about 40 minutes. Stir once if necessary. Soak the gelatine in cold water. Remove the casserole dish from the oven and empty the contents into a tall container. Purée until finely ground using a hand blender. Squeeze out the soaked gelatine and dissolve it in the apple puree. Allow to cool slightly. Meanwhile, beat 2 egg yolks with the icing sugar until light and fluffy. Now stir the apple puree and lemon juice into the egg yolk foam and allow to cool to lukewarm. Beat the 3 egg whites with the remaining icing sugar and a pinch of salt until creamy. Whip the cream until semi-stiff. Loosely fold both mixtures into the apple cream. Either fill the baked apple cream into molds or cover and chill in a bowl for at least 2 hours. To serve, scoop out the mousse using two spoons or an ice cream scoop and place them on plates or in serving spoons. Decorate the mousse with a small dollop of cranberry jam. For the apple roses: Core the apple using an apple corer, halve it, and cut it crosswise into 5 mm thick slices. This works best with a V-slicer. In a small saucepan, mix 4 cups of water with the cane sugar and lemon juice. Add the apple slices and simmer gently for 2 minutes or microwave for 3 minutes, making sure they don’t get too soft. Dry the apple slices on a paper towel. In the meantime, mix the jam or jelly with a little water until smooth. Remove the puff pastry from the packaging and roll it out with a rolling pin. Then use a rolling pin to cut strips about 1.5 cm wide. Spread some jam and place the apple slices, slightly overlapping, on the top half and sprinkle with a little cinnamon powder. Then fold the bottom edge upward so that the apple slices are half-covered with dough. Then roll up tightly from the right or left side. Place the resulting roses in a muffin tin lined with silicone baking cups. Bake in a preheated oven at 200°C (top/bottom heat) for about 35-40 minutes. Let the roses cool in the tin, then remove. Dust with powdered sugar and serve. The roses taste best while still slightly warm.