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Apple Rolls
Chop a few apples very fine, and sweeten them with sugar. Lay three or four table-spoonfuls of this in the middle of a circular or oval piece of paste, rolled out a quarter of an inch thick. Fold it in two, lengthwise; unite the edges, and press or scallop them with the bowl of a tea-spoon. Lay the rolls on a baking-tin that has been previously greased, and put it into a moderate oven. It is a good plan to use apple marmalade instead of chopped apples, as then there is no fear of the fruit not being sufficiently cooked. Time to bake, half an hour. Sufficient, one roll for two persons. Probable cost; 2d. each.
A turnover by another name, and the recipe's own aside about apple marmalade is the piece of advice worth acting on. Half an hour at moderate heat will brown the pastry long before raw chopped apple has softened.
- Oven temperatureA "moderate oven" here is 350-375F (180-190C). At the lower end the pastry takes the full half hour without the edges scorching.
- Cook the apple firstThe note about apple marmalade is the hinge. Raw chopped apple in a thirty-minute bake gives crunchy fruit and a leaking seam; stew the apples down with sugar to a thick, spreadable pulp and cool it before filling.
- "Apple marmalade"In Victorian usage this means apples cooked to a stiff puree with sugar, closer to a very thick applesauce than to a citrus preserve. Reduce it until a spoon drawn through leaves a clear track, or the juices will soak the base.
- The pasteNo pastry is specified. Shortcrust or rough puff both suit; a quarter-inch is thicker than most modern turnovers and gives a sturdy, biscuit-like case.
- SealingDamp the edge with water before folding, then press with the back of a teaspoon bowl to make the scalloped rim. A vent cut in the top lets steam escape and keeps the seam intact.
- SugarQuantity is left to the cook. Two to three tablespoons per pound of prepared apple is a reasonable starting point, adjusted for the fruit — Bramleys need considerably more than eating apples.
- Yield"One roll for two persons" is the book's own reckoning. Three or four tablespoons of filling in a quarter-inch crust makes a substantial single serving by modern standards.
Cassell's places this among the plainest of pastry work: a fruit turnover, made from whatever paste was already on the board and whatever apples were in the store. The costing — twopence each — is characteristic of the book, which priced almost every dish so that a household could budget from the page, and it marks this as everyday family cooking rather than anything for company. Enclosed fruit pastries of this shape are very old in Britain, and the folded semicircle is the form used here; the compiler recommends a pre-cooked fruit pulp for the sound reason that pastry and raw apple do not finish at the same moment. The instruction to scallop the edge with the bowl of a teaspoon is a reminder that a kitchen of this period expected no special tool for a job a spoon could do.