Apple Sausage Dumplings

I got this idea by turning a dessert we make at work into a savory meal for dinner. At work we fill the apple with brown sugar and butter and serve it with house made vanilla bean ice cream and scotch caramel. Essentially you could take the basis of this recipe and fill the apple with anything sweet or savory. I thought it would taste great stuffed with veggies and fresh herbs.

Flaky puff pastry encased around Fuji apples, stuffed with veggie sausage, red pepper, shallots, zucchini, crunchy walnuts, spinach and fragrant rosemary and thyme sprigs.

Apple Sausage Dumplings
2 tbl extra virgin olive oil
1 shallot, minced
1/4c each, small dice- carrots, zucchini, celery, red pepper
1 tbl chopped fresh thyme and rosemary, each
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tofurkey italian sausages, small dice
1/4c vegetable broth plus more for brushing
1/4c chopped baby spinach
2 tbl chopped parsley
1/4c walnuts, toasted
2 Fuji apples, peeled and cored
1 package vegan puff pastry, thawed

Preheat oven to 375.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and grease.
In a large saute pan, heat oil and add the carrots, zucchini, celery and red pepper. Cook until vegetables start to soften, about 7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and add thyme and rosemary. Cook 2 more minutes. Add the sausage and saute until it has browned. Add the vegetable broth to the pan to help scrape up bits off the bottom, and cook until it has evaporated.
Toss in the spinach, parsley and walnuts and set mixture aside.

Once you have cored the apples, go ahead and use your corer or knife to cut out a much bigger whole in the middle, so you can get a lot of stuffing in the center.
Unfold one piece of pastry, with a rolling pin roll the dough out a bit thinner. Set your apple in the middle and estimate the square size you will need to cover all the sides. Cut off the rest of the excess pastry. Fill the apple with stuffing. Brush edges of the puff with vegetable broth and fold up the pastry around the apple, completely encasing it. Brush the outside with vegetable broth. Continue this process with the other apple.
Place on your baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes until the outside is golden brown and the apple has softened but is not mushy.