If you love apple pie but don’t know the first thing about making a pie, here’s a delicious way to get your baked apple fix. Baked apple spring rolls are so good and so darn picture-pretty when drizzled with chocolate and sprinkled with powdered sugar. Make a small batch for a family snack or make A LOT and serve for a special occasion.
But why bake the spring rolls? I’ve been seeing a lot of baked spring rolls on the web lately. It’s obviously an attempt to create a low fat version of a traditionally deep-fried favorite. What’s really curious is how spring rolls with sweet filling are referred to as lumpia. It isn’t, exactly. They are turon. Lumpia, on the other hand, is also a spring roll, fried or not, but with a savory filling. The most common filling for turon is saba banana with sweetened mashed mung beans a far second.
For my first attempt at making baked spring rolls, I used apples. The apple filling is Speedy’s idea, actually. He cooked turon yesterday, fried, with apple filling. The filling was seasoned a la apple pie with cinnamon. Following his basic idea, I made another batch of apple spring rolls — this time, baked. Were they good? Oh, yes. Were they crisp? Oh, yes. How is that possible? Read on and find out.
- 2 Granny Smith apples
- juice of one kalamansi (or 1/4 of a lemon or lime)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/8 cup butter melted
- 12 medium spring roll wrappers separated
- egg wash
- dark chocolate melted (optional)
- powdered sugar (optional)
-
Preheat the oven to 375F.
-
Line a baking sheet with non-stick paper.
-
Peel and core the apple. Cut into 1/2-inch cubes.
-
In a bowl, toss the apple with the kalamansi juice. Add the flour, toss and make sure that every piece of the apple is coated well. The flour will make the apple juice syrupy during baking.
-
Add the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Toss to blend.
-
Fill each wrapper with about two tablespoons of the filling. Wrap and seal well using the egg wash (see how to wrap spring rolls).
-
Arrange the spring rolls on the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle each one with melted butter.
-
Bake at 375 for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.
-
-
Some of the juices will seep out but don’t worry. The sugar will caramelize and even if the underside of the spring rolls get soaked with the juices, the caramelization will ensure that even the undersides are crisp rather than soggy. Speedy said we should bake the spring rolls on a rack next time. I think it’s a good idea. I have to think of a way to make sure that the spring rolls will not stick on the rack though.
-
-
The spring rolls are tongue-scorching hot straight out of the oven. Wait a few minutes before picking up one and biting. They’re good plain, Speedy preferred them that way, but chocolate makes me happy so I drizzled melted chocolate over mine. And sprinkled in a little powdered sugar too.
