My recipe is light on breadcrumbs and heavy on apple.
I find a lot of strudels can be stodgy. A small amount of breadcrumb in the filling is essential but so is a lightness and tartness, which could otherwise be lost. You can serve this with custard, or with Chantilly cream, which is cream whipped with caster sugar. Mind you, after many a skiing holiday I am rather a fan of cream foam from an aerosol tin, which Florence, the daughter of Portia Spooner, my assistant, refers to as squirty cream.
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
- 750g Bramley apples, peeled, cored, quartered and sliced
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 lemon, zest
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 100g golden caster sugar
- 75g raisins
- 95g butter
- 40g dried white breadcrumbs
- 6 large sheets filo pastry
- 1 tbsp icing sugar, for dusting
- Cream, ice cream or custard, to serve
Method:
- Mix the apples with the cinnamon, lemon zest and juice, caster sugar and raisins. In a small frying pan, melt 20g of the butter and fry the breadcrumbs until golden, then add to the apple mixture.
- Heat the oven to 190°C/gas 5. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment.
- Melt the rest of the butter (75g) in a pan. Place a clean tea towel on the worktop with the long edge towards you. Place a sheet of the filo on top and brush with some of the melted butter. Lay another sheet on top and repeat until you have used all the filo. Now pile the filling on the filo, leaving about 3cm clear all round. Tuck the ends in, then, using the tea towel to help, roll the pastry away from you to enclose all the filling. Transfer the roll seam-side down to the lined baking sheet and brush with the rest of the melted butter. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until golden.
- Allow to cool to room temperature and dust with icing sugar. Slice and serve with cream, ice cream or custard.
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