Baked apple dumplings with blueberry and fennel seed crumble

Baked apples are gorgeous, but stuffed with fruity crumble and wrapped in a blanket of puff pastry, they’re even better. This dish is extremely simple and definitely looks fancier than it is trouble to make.

2 x sheets of ready-rolled puff pastry, about 320g each

plain flour, for dusting

4 Braeburn, Granny Smith or other eating apples, about 8cm in diameter

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 tbsp Demerara sugar, for sprinkling

cream or vanilla ice cream, to serve

For the filling:

4 tbsp rolled oats

30g dried blueberries (any other dried fruit is fine, chopped if large)

40g unsalted butter, softened

generous pinch of fine sea salt

2 tbsp maple syrup, plus extra to serve (optional)

20g toasted hazelnuts, chopped

1 tsp fennel seeds

Serves: 4 | Takes: 1 hour

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F and line a 30 x 20 x 5-cm roasting tray with baking parchment.

Roll out the pastry sheets on a lightly floured work surface so they are a little thinner than they come in the packet. Using a plate as a guide, cut out two 20-cm discs from each pastry sheet. Chill in the fridge until needed.

Mix all the filling ingredients together in a bowl.

Peel the apples, then remove most of the core with a small knife or apple corer. Don’t cut through to the bottom – you want to leave a little apple so the filling doesn’t fall through. Use a teaspoon or melon baller to widen the hole. Tightly pack the apples with the filling – it doesn’t matter if some of the filling pokes over the top.

Sit one of the apples on a pastry disc and lightly moisten around the edge with water. Gather the pastry up over the apple, pleating it as you go. Pinch the pastry at the top to seal, then trim off any excess. Repeat with the remaining apples and pastry, transferring each one to the prepared roasting tray as you go.

Brush the pastry with the beaten egg and sprinkle with the Demerara sugar. Bake for 40–50 minutes, or until the pastry is puffed and golden and the apples are cooked through; an inserted skewer should go through easily. Serve hot, with cream or vanilla ice cream, drizzled with extra maple syrup, if you like.