Apple Strudel

This mouthwatering good Apple Strudel is made with frozen ready made puff pastry, fresh apples, golden raisins, and an easy four ingredient cinnamon glaze.  It is so amazingly easy to make and just perfect with that hot cup of coffee early in the morning. 

This picture perfect tasty treat is ideal for brunches and lazy long weekend breakfasts. For my holiday brunches I love to serve this with Cheesy Pepper Asparagus Breakfast Casserole and Homemade Biscuits and Gravy.

Fall is my absolute favorite season.  There is just so much to love about it. I just adore the cool crisp nights, the bright colored leaves and mums, the warm cozy soups, stews and chilis and the apple desserts and pastries.  If your family is anything like mine than they just can not get enough of apple anything and everything.  Are you nuts over apples like we are?  Have you tried any of my other apple recipes?  Apple Brown Betty, Apple Cookies, Apple Cake, and this recipe are just a few of our favorites.

How to make Apple Strudel with puff pastry

The first step is to add the raisins to a bowl with a little bit of rum.  Then place that bowl in a sink of hot water and let them sit for about 15-20 minutes. For an alcohol free version just use water.  Meanwhile peel, core and finely dice your apples (see picture).  Toss the apples with the lemon juice in a large bowl.  Add the raisins, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and stir to combine. 

Next unfold the puff pastry and lay each one on a piece of parchment paper big enough to fit a large cookie sheet. Now use a rolling pin to gently roll out the folding bumps.  Don’t be too rough as it might not puff as much.  Then simply layer the apple filling down the center of the puff pastry.  Next using a pizza cutter cut the dough in strips being careful to line up the cut as close as possible on both sides of the apple mixture. Next gently (using the parchment paper) move the cut puff pastry to baking sheets keeping the parchment paper on the baking sheet

Now you are going to fold each strip across at a little bit of a downward angle starting with either the left or the right.  So you will go left, right, left, right, left, right.  As I often heard on Sesame Street “Do you see a pattern here?”  You will need to moisten the far outer one inch of the strips that that you fold in second (or in this case the right) lightly with water.  This will help the second strip folded over the first adhere to the dough.  Now in a small bowl beat the egg and milk.  Then using a pastry brush lightly coat the tops and sides of the pastry. Bake in a preheated oven for about 35 minutes. After a few minutes of cooling use the parchment paper to move the strudel to a wire rack to cool. Finally in a small bowl whisk together powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and cinnamon.  Then drizzle over the cooled strudels.

What is Puff Pastry and how do I work with it?

Puff Pastry is frozen ready made pastry dough that is buttery, flaky and light. It make delicious strudel dough and it is easy to work with. The butter is worked inside the dough and it is folded and rolled out multiple time before freezing creating light delicious layers.  It is available in the freezer section of most grocery stores in the United States and should remain frozen until ready to use. Thaw the puff pastry overnight or on your counter until it is pliable enough to unfold without risk of cracking.

Lightly flour your work surface and use a rolling pin to gently roll out any creases in the puff pastry.  You can cut a puff pastry sheet into quarters and add fresh or canned pie fruit and fold over in a triangular shape and bake for turnovers.  Or cut in strips and follow this fun and easy recipe for Cheese Straws.  I like to keep a few extra boxes in the freezer especially this time of year for entertaining as the possibilities are endless.

Time the use of your puff pastry carefully as once thawed you should prep and cook while it is at its optimum. Don’t leave the puff pastry at room temperature for too long as the butter in the dough will start to melt making it hard to work with.  If the dough becomes too soft place back in the fridge for 30 minutes or so and then work with it.  When baking puff pastry the optimum temperature is 400 degrees as it gets the biggest rise out of the dough.

Recipe notes and tips

• Thaw the puff pastry out in the refrigerator overnight or on the counter just until it is pliable enough to unfold without cracking.
• Feel free to use any kind of raisins.  I just think Golden raisins taste better and they look so much nicer mixed with the apples.
• Drain as much of the rum as you can so from the raisins before adding them to the apple mixture.
• If you don’t like nutmeg than omit it or add a couple pinches of ground cloves.  As I always say don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
• Use good baking apples like Honeycrisp, Braeburn or Pink Lady (also known as Cripps Pink), and Granny Smith apples.
• It is best to use a paper towel to clean up any oozing apple mess around the pastry before placing in the oven.
• This is a relatively easy recipe yet a busy recipe so have everything you need set out or in close range like parchment paper, cutting board, pastry brush, bowl of water, pizza cutter, egg mixed with milk (egg wash).  It is easy to forget a step so stay organized.
• The strudel should be fairly cool before drizzling the glaze.
• For an over the top treat serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream
• For a change of pace skip the cinnamon glaze and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
• To reheat place on baking sheet covered loosely with aluminum foil in a preheated 275 degree oven for about 10 minutes.
• Store up to two days on the counter in an airtight container.  You can store an additional 2-3 days in the fridge.

Other apple desserts you will love!

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