Apple Yam slider with pistachio filling

Serves 6 as a side

Prep time: approximately 30 minutes

Some recipes come to me easily - some do not. I had a very clear vision of how I wanted this receipe to “feel”, but the logistics took many tries to figure out. It’s still a bit more crumbly than I would like, but the flavors are exactly what I envisioned, so I’m sticking to it (unless someone gives me a great idea of how to make puff pastry less crumbly). Essentially, this has all of the flavors I put in sweet potato casserole but as a slider.

1 yam

1-2 apples, granny smith (or other tart apple)

1/4 cup pistachios, chopped finely

1/4 cup oats

1/4 cup butter, cut into small cubes plus an additional 2T, melted

1/4t each cardamom, cinnamon, salt

1 standard sized sheet, puff pastry

Preheat the oven at 375 degrees F. Roll out the puff pastry so it is approximately 150% the original size. Cut out circles from the puff pastry, about 3 inches in diameter (I use the top of canning lids to do this). Brush with melted butter and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Next, make the pistachio filling. Combine the pistachios, oats, cubed butter, cardamom, cinnamon and salt into a small bowl. Mix together by hand, incorporating the oats and nuts into the butter. Set aside.

Next, make very thin slices of the yam and apple - it is best to use a mandolin to do this (or a mandolin attachment on a box grater), but if you don’t have this, a cheese peeler could work - if you don’t have this, just slice both as thin as you can. if they are not thin enough, you may need to cook them for longer. Once sliced, assemble the stacks in this order - yam - apple - yam - 1T of pistachio filling - apple - yam - apple. Place on a second parchment-lined-and-greased baking sheet.

Bake both the stacks and puff pastry. I found that the cooking time varied a fair bit by brand of puff pastry, how thin it was rolled, and even by type of apple/yam, so watch the baking carefully. To start, I’d recommend cooking the puff pastry “buns” for approximately 7 minutes and the “stacks” for 15 minutes. Once baked, allow to cool slightly before assembling your sliders.