Apple Strudel

Guess what?
This is the 100th post on this blog. And I just made 500 fans on Facebook too!.
Yeey! Can you believe it? In less than a year..gosh! I am so surprised.

It had been a long long time that my husband had been after me to start a blog and I was so unsure about it. Kept telling him with so many Chef blogs out there who will check out my recipes.
He'd always tell me.. "people care about good recipes not titles". He was right again!

I want to say a big thank you to you all for being so supportive and encouraging. Truly makes me feel so special. 

I wanted today's post to be special and of course sweet.... so I thought I'd share with you my family's favorite Apple Strudel.
 

Making Apple Strudel is really very easy. There is no cooking or too much preparation. In fact if you find a good recipe that works for your family - save it. I've tried some that end up in a soup and some that taste so dry. This for me works perfect..



Here's how I make mine - serves 6

Ingredients

600 grams / 4 apples - I like to use tart apples like granny smith.
120 grams /3/4 cup - Brown Sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon or Nutmeg powder
1/4 cup raisins or apricots or Cranberry - chopped
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
1/4 cup dried bread crumbs
1 tbsp lemon juice
Juice of half an orange (optional) OR 2 tbsp Rum 
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup melted butter
6 or 8 sheets ready made Puff pastry ( I like 8 but 6 works well too)

Method:
Pre heat the oven to 190C/380 F
Ensure the puff pastry is thawed but kept covered under a damp cloth to prevent it from drying out.
Wash, peel, core the apples. Chop each into half then quarters - then slice each quarter into three slices.
(Watch for little hands that sneak raisins out of your recipe!)

Add salt and lemon juice immediately to prevent it from browning.

 Next add the sugar, raisins, half the chopped nuts. Squeeze the juice of half an orange or add the rum if using.

 Cover the bowl with cling / plastic wrap while you work on the filo pastry.

Spread the filo on to your work surface.

Brush melted butter over each filo one at a time. I like to do mine like an open book.
I flip from one side towards the center then the next side towards the center. 

 Here you can see I have finished brushing melted butter onto all sheets of the filo dough.

 Next spread half the bread crumbs and nuts on the filo - not too close to the edges.

 And the other half of the nuts and bread crumbs to the apples. Give it one more through mix.

 Spread the mixture onto to the filo towards one side leaving two inches away from the sides so you can fold the sides.
You see the filo is not too long that is why you need 6 to 8 sheets to make up for the layers.

 Now - all you do is roll onto it self and tuck the edges under.

 Place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

 Brush with melted butter.
Bake on the center rack - in a preheated oven at 190C/380F for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

This is how mine looked as soon as it came out of the oven.
Depending on the apples used and the amount of butter used you might have some liquid on the baking tray.
Some times I like to brush that liquid on the top of the strudel to give it a nice glossy look.

Some times I don't have that much juices in the try so I just sprinkle lightly with powder sugar.

 That's how the inside looked.

I like to serve mine warm with either some vanilla ice cream or egg custard.

 Bon Appetite.


Thank you for stopping by, Have a great day...