Apple Strudel!

I'm in cooking school and recently we had a "German Day" - of which I was ridiculously excited to learn how to make home-made sausages.
But seeing as I don't have a sausage-making machine or a meat grinder - this post isn't about that unfortunately!
What I do have - is things to make apple strudel!  And you probably do too.

What you need:

• 3-4 Large apples peeled/cored and chopped small (I used golden delicious since they were on sale)
• Cinnamon stick
• Cinnamon and nutmeg
• Brown sugar
• Filo pastry/puff pastry 4 sheets thawed
• Melted butter
• Optional:
• Slivered almonds or chopped peanuts
• Dark chocolate shaved
• Raisins

What to do:

1. Boil your apples with the cinnamon stick until tender - about 15 minutes.
2. Drain water, discard cinnamon stick and pre-heat oven to 200*C (400*F).
3. Stir in cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar to your taste.
4. Lie out 1 sheet of filo carefully (it tears easily) and keep the rest of the sheets covered so it doesn't dry out.  Brush with melted butter and add the next sheet - adding melted butter between each layer.

Lay apple filling a couple inches wide along the edge - but give yourself an inch or two from the actual edge (see first photo).

Add on top your chocolate/nuts and/or raisins.

Fold in sides carefully (all 4 layers).

Slowly roll it upwards - be careful of the center not ripping.
Brush butter while rolling because then it prevents it from drying out while baking.
Sprinkle extra nuts on top if you want!  

Bake in a 200*C/400*F oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

Slice and serve warm with vanilla ice-cream and caramel sauce!

Next post will have the caramel sauce recipe! :)

Since my husband can't eat nuts - I made him a separate strudel and didn't top it with nuts so that way we could distinguish the two strudels.

This could be made with other fruits I'm sure - just make sure they're well drained so the pastry is easier to roll and less likely to break on you from being soggy!

Enjoy,

D.