House Tyrell Apple Roses

For tonight's episode, we've got our fingers crossed for Margaery and Loras so we're paying homage to their wonderful house and their sigil's golden rose with apple rose pastries. They take a long time to make but are well worth it in the end.

Prep time: 3 hours ( 2 for puff pastries and 1 for apple roses)
Bake time: 40-45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 frozen puff pastry sheet, thawed
• 3 red organic apples (we used red delicious, but you can aim for a more yellow or golden apple to get that perfect Tyrell look)
• Lemon juice
• Extra flour to use when rolling dough
• 3 tablespoons of cherry syrup, which A Song of Spice and Fire pulled from cherry pie filling, without the actual cherries
• about 2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon
• 1 to 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar for decorating

Puff Pastry Recipe:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup and 5 tablespoons butter, frozen
• 5 tablespoons cold water

First, chill a large metal bowl. Once cold, sift flour and salt into the bowl. Then finely grate all of the frozen butter into the mix, making sure to toss the flour so as to cover all of the butter. Grating the butter is a bit slimy as the stick runs out, so make sure to wash your hands before and after.

Now, evenly pour the cold water into the mix. Careful, though, because too much will ruin your dough by making it too soft. While a fork can be use to mix thoroughly at this point, it may help to just get dirty and mix with your hands. Again, stay clean. Test the mix by squeezing it. (See? Using your hands is a must anyway.) The dough is ready if it holds without crumbling. Don't work the mix too much, or else it'll be too tough. If the mix really isn't ready and the water has been completely mixed, add another tablespoon of water--or less, don't make it too soft--and then work the dough to incorporate until ready.

Since the dough is now mixed well, gather it up into roughly a 5 by 5 inch square (it doesn't have to be anywhere near perfect, so don't stress) and wrap in plastic. Place the dough in the fridge for about 30 minutes. While it chills, chill out on the couch and begin an episode of Game of Thrones, take a nap, read a book from A Song of Ice and Fire, but be ready to take the dough out of the fridge and roll it out on a lightly floured surface, using a floured rolling pin. Create a large rectangle, about a foot by half a foot, or bigger. Then, fold it into a small rectangle, similar to folding a letter. Take the bottom third and fold that on top of the middle third, and fold the top third on top of the bottom. Repeat this twice more, then freeze the dough. Either freeze for storage, or if the plan is to finish baking soon, just refrigerate for an hour.

This recipe is very common, but A Song of Spice and Fire referenced http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/rough-puff-pastry-dough-230789 specifically, although some changes have been made.

Now that you have your puff pastry, back to the apple rose recipe...

Begin by thawing out the puff pastry. The puff pastry can either be purchased or made from scratch, the recipe for which can be found below. Also, reheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit  

Have a bowl ready with water and about a tablespoon of lemon juice. Once that is ready, go ahead and core and slice the apples, leaving the skin on them. Put the slices in the bowl to keep them from browning, because brown apples are gross looking. Microwave the slices for 2-3 minutes so that the slices are easy to shape. Don't be fooled, though, as the slices and water are going to be super hot. 

Next, create a big area, lightly floured, to roll out the dough using a floured rolling pin. Make very thin strips, each 9 inches long and 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide. Spread the cherry filling across each strip, then sprinkle ground cinnamon along the strip. Then lay apple slices along the strip, going down the long edge of the dough. The apples should lay partially atop each other, and be laid one the very edge of the strip. This way, once the strip has apples all along the edge, the strip can be folded over on the apples. Roll the strip up just like a fruit roll up; it's a little tricky so don't let the apple slices escape! Using the puff pastry recipe provided, about 8 or 9 roses can be made.

Place each apple rose in a muffin pan, if the pan is not silicon make sure to grease it. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 40-45 minutes. Even if apples look cooked  at 30 minutes, the puff pastry is not, but the tray can be moved to a lower rack in the oven. Let the roses cook for the last 10-15 minutes, then remove from the oven. Use a sieve to gently coat the roses in yummy powdered sugar. Lastly, enjoy the desert!

Fruit inspired flowers aren't too rare, but they are rather tough to make. These apple roses were inspired by http://cookingwithmanuela.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/apple-roses.html

We hope you've enjoyed these apple rose pastries as much as we have! Let us know what you think of them in the comments below and we'll see you next time! 

Yellow Rose of Tyrell Cake

Oh happy day! A wedding! Well, actually, several weddings! As this third season of Game of Thrones winds down, many of our favorite Westeros lords and ladies are getting married--whether they're happy about it or not. We're hoping it all turns out happily, but this is Westeros, so that just doesn't seem likely. 

For us, a happy wedding means good cake. For a Tyrell, a good cake means roses that are growing strong. We've whipped up this rose covered cake to celebrate the upcoming big day for Margaery Tyrell. And did we mention the hazelnut? The cake, icing, and Nutella filling are all hazelnut flavored, making for a delicious treat. 

Today we're giving you the cake recipe, but look out for our rose tutorial coming later this week where we'll teach you this very easy technique to create a beautiful Tyrell Rose Cake of your own.

 Yellow Rose of Tyrell Cake Recipe

Prep time: 30 minutes, bake time 25-30 minutes, icing 30 minutes
Difficulty: Moderate
Serves: 12-15 

Cake Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter (if you use salted butter then don’t use the ½ tsp of salt)
• 1 ¾ granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 tsp hazelnut extract
• 1 cup room temperature milk

Buttercream Icing Ingredients:

• 2lb bag of powdered sugar
• 1 cup shortening
• ½ cup milk
• 2 ½ tsp hazelnut extract
• Yellow and green food coloring

*You will also need Nutella for the cake filling 

Hazelnut Cake Recipe:

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9 inch cake pans or three 6 inch pans. 

Step 2: Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium sized bowl

Step 3: In a large bowl beat butter until creamy 

Step 4: Gradually add sugar and beat thoroughly

Step 5: Add eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly before adding the next egg

Step 6: Beat in hazelnut

Step 7: Add flour slowly, adding milk as you add flour in order to help the mixture beat more easily

Step 8: Pour mixture into pans and bake for 25-30 minutes or until finished. Bake time will vary depending on size of pan you used.

Crusting Buttercream Icing Recipe:

Step 1: Beat together shortening and hazelnut extract until creamy in a large bowl.

Step 2: Slowly add powdered sugar. You will need to add no more than a cup at a time and beat the mixture thoroughly before adding more. As the icing becomes harder to beat, slowly add milk. Only add a little at a time until all sugar and milk is added and icing is smooth.

Step 3: Separate about a quarter cup of icing from the mixture. 

Step 4: Mix green food coloring into the small portion of icing

Step 5: Mix several drops of yellow food coloring into the larger portion of icing

How to Decorate the Cake:

Cake Layers:

Step 1: Place the first layer on your cake plate. It’s easiest to place the cake upside-down so that the flattest part of the cake is facing up.

Step 2: Add some yellow icing to piping bag with a round icing tip. Put a rim of icing around the top of the cake layer. Then fill in the rim with Nutella. Place the second layer on top of the first. If you are using three 6 inch pans, then repeat this process and add the third layer.

Crumb Coat:

Step 1: To crumb coat the cake, add a thin layer of yellow icing to the cake. You only want to add enough icing to hold in the crumbs and to give the roses something to stick to.

How do you make the roses? See our tutorial here: 

Frosting Roses tutorial by Anna-Lara of House Cook