Ooey gooey apple pastries – this is a quick and fun snack or dessert, but also pretty enough to serve to guests.
I created this recipe one day when I was in the mood for a more “special” feeling dessert. These are a great healthy snack or dessert. The cream cheese adds an extra layer of unexpected flavor to these otherwise sweet snacks. The flaky phyllo dough adds a textural component that mirrors that of a tart.
What you’ll need
Here’s a quick list of what you’ll need for this recipe:
- frozen phyllo dough
- egg whites
- fresh apples
- apple pie spice
- vanilla extract
- corn starch
- water
- reduced fat cream cheese
- cinnamon sugar
Working with phyllo dough
If you’ve never worked with phyllo before, it’s seriously one of the most versatile ingredients out there. It’s basically a frozen stack of paper-thin pastry dough, and it’s the key ingredient for Greek dishes like Baklava or Spanakopita. But really, you can do anything with Phyllo. The brand I can find easily is the “Athens” brand. You can find it right in the frozen section of most supermarkets, where they sell the puff pastry and frozen whipped cream. Here’s what the package looks like:
If you’re intimidated by the idea of working with Phyllo, don’t be! It is extremely delicate, so I get that it can seem a bit tricky to manage. The key is allowing the dough to come to room temperature before separating the sheets from each other, otherwise the entire stack of sheets can crack in half (I may or may not have learned this the hard way). For this particular recipe, you only need six sheets of phyllo. So let the dough come to room temperature, remove your six sheets, and then place the unused dough back into the freezer for another time. It’s totally fine!
Making the apple filling
This apple filling is super easy to make. The key ingredient here is really the corn starch – when mixed with water and cooked, it creates that ooey-gooey apple pie vibe we all love so much. No need for a ton of sugar here either – let’s let the natural sweetness of the apples do their thing, and we can enhance that with some yummy spices and some vanilla extract. A little goes a long way, I promise.
Storage
These will stay fresh for a couple of days in the fridge. Place them in an air-tight container, or on a platter wrapped with plastic wrap. To reheat, simply pop them in the air fryer or a high temp oven for a few minutes to re-crisp. I don’t recommend microwaving these, as they’ll turn soggy on you – and no one wants soggy pastries. We want ooey gooey apple pastries.
Apple Pastries
Equipment
- frying pan
- muffin tin
Ingredients
- 6 sheets phyllo dough
- 1/4 cup liquid egg whites
- 2 medium apples, peeled and diced
- 1 tsp apple pie spice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp corn starch
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 oz reduced fat cream cheese
- 1 tsp + sprinkle cinnamon sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375. Defrost 6 sheets of frozen phyllo dough.
- Add the diced apple to a frying pan sprayed with cooking spray.
- Add the apple pie spice, vanilla, salt, corn starch. Toss to coat. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes.
- Add the water and let the corn starch and water combine, as the apples cook the mixture will become thick and gooey like apple pie filling.
- Cook for another 5 minutes until the apples are tender.
- Meanwhile, combine the cream cheese with the 1 tsp cinnamon sugar in a small bowl.
- Spray 6 openings of a full-size muffin pan with cooking spray.
- Fold each sheet into quarters to form squares.
- Brush each square generously with egg whites, on both sides.
- Lay each square in the muffin pan openings (it should cover the bottom and go up the sides of the muffin pan, like a small basket).
- Add a small spoonful of the cream cheese mixture in the bottom of each pastry. Top with the apple filling. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
Sarah says
Delicious! I also made some with fresh blueberries. They were amazing as well!
Tracy S says
This was 13 year old approved! I love ALL your recipes.