#readcookeat recipe : Apple jalousie (The Advent Killer)

Crime fiction isn't generally the best genre for finding foodie references in, but while reading The Advent Killer by Alastair Gunn (click through to read my review), there was one dish mentioned that caught my eye. The lead detective's rather overbearing mother phones her, wittering on about her arrangements for Christmas dinner with the family :

p113 'Antonia, it's your mother. There are only three days until Christmas and I'm having a complete nightmare with the dinner. No sooner do I finish the nut strudel than Auntie Irene's on the phone, telling me how last year at Sylvia's they had homemade Apple Jalousie. So now I have to make some, but your father's tried every shop in Bushey High Street and none of them has even heard of vanilla beans. Anyway, if you could just find somewhere to buy ...'

I'd never heard of Apple Jalousie so I headed off to google it. I found lots of recipes, including this one for apple brown-butter jalousie, but I was a bit disappointed because it's basically a cross between apple strudel and apple pie, or an oversized apple puff.

I did have three sad wrinkly apples that needed using up though, so I decided to recreate it.

Apple and Golden Syrup Jalousie

ingredients :

3 apples

1 ready-made puff pastry sheet

a squeeze of golden syrup

a little milk or egg wash

Peel and core the apples.

Chop them into chunks.

Put in a saucepan with a small amount of water (just enough to cover the bottom) and stew for about ten minutes until soft but not mushy and the liquid has all disappeared. Add a squeeze of golden syrup and leave to cool.

Lay out the puff pastry and put the apple in the middle third.

Fold the two edges in (about 2cm) to stop the apple splurging out, then fold both flaps to the centre. Press firmly all the way around the edges to seal and cut slits across the top.

Brush with a little milk or egg wash, place on a baking sheet and bake at 180° for 20 minutes until golden brown and puffed up.

Serve a slice, still warm, with cream or ice cream for extra indulgence. 

Apparently it was very nice - I didn't get a look in because the kids polished off the whole lot !!

Fancy cooking the books ? Join in with the #readcookeat challenge at Chez Maximka.

Linking up with the #KitchenClearout linky because it used up my wrinkly apples !