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Puff Pastry Apple Strudel

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Apple Strudel
Strudel is a type of pastry where a flaky dough is wrapped around a sweet or savory filling. A traditional strudel dough is made by carefully stretching a plain dough into paper-thin sheets and layering it together, which produces a very flaky crust. The process of pulling dough is a little too labor intensive for most people baking at home (myself included!), so other types of dough are often substituted to speed the process along. You can use layers of phyllo dough to create a flaky crust, but I often like to use puff pastry instead, since it has a rich, buttery flavor that makes the strudel that much more delicious.

This Apple Strudel is made using all butter puff pastry, and any storebought brand that you like will work for you. The puff pastry should be defrosted then rolled out until it is quite thin on a lightly floured surface before it is filled with a sweet mixture of apples, raisins, cinnamon and sugar. You can use all kinds of fruit in a strudel, but apple is definitely a classic filling and you can’t go wrong with apples, spice and flaky pastry in any dessert. And a strudel can be much quicker than an apple pie if you have some puff pastry in your freezer already.

When you are preparing your apples, it is important to cut them into relatively thin pieces so that they have a chance to cook all the way through while your strudel is in the oven. If your apple mixture looks exceptionally juicy before adding it to the pastry, you might also not want to transfer all that juice to the strudel to help keep the dough as crispy as possible. I added raisins in with my apples and think they add a nice sweetness. If you’re not a raisin fan, you can substitute dried cherries or cranberries, or you could omit the dried fruit entirely and add in some chopped, toasted walnuts for a little crunch.

The strudel is at its best the day it is made, when the pastry is crisp and the apples are still slightly warm, but it will keep for a few days after if you want to take your time enjoying the leftovers.

Puff Pastry Apple Strudel
1 sheet puff pastry (8-9 -oz), defrosted to room temperature
2 medium apples
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 cup raisins
milk, for topping
coarse sugar, for topping

Preheat oven to 375F.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out puff pastry into a large, thin rectangle, approx 12×14-inches (exact dimensions will vary based on the size of your pastry sheet).
Peel and core apples. Cut into thin slices about 1/4-inch thick. Place in a large bowl. Add brown sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, allspice and raisins into the bowl with the apples and toss to coat.
Spoon apple mixture onto the bottom third of the pastry rectangle, leaving a 1-inch border near the bottom. Working carefully, pull the 1-inch border of pastry up around the apple mixture and continue rolling the pastry – jelly-roll style – until it is completely wrapped. Tuck the ends of the pastry down and press to seal.
Carefully transfer strudel to a parchment-lined baking sheet, placing it seam-side down. Cut several slits in the top of the strudel with a sharp knife. Brush the top of the strudel with a little bit of milk and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
Bake for about 35 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown and the apples are tender.
Allow to cool before serving to allow the juices from the apples to thicken.

Serves 6-8.

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7 Comments
  • Strudel made of puff pastry?! Who would have thought, this looks so easy too!! My dad is always begging me to make strudel but its so complicated i always refuse – i can make him this instead!

    Thanks for sharing!
    Leah. X

  • Hannah
    April 9, 2013

    That looks so good, and takes away a lot of the hard work of making a strudel – genius! Thank you for sharing!

    Hannah x

  • Aizat Mahmudy
    November 5, 2013

    Ever since after watching the move The Inglorious Basterds, I always wondered how apple strudel would taste like. Now that I’ve found this post, I can wonder no more! 😀 but it’s hard to find puff pastry sheet where i come from though, even if i do, it would be very expensive since it would be imported from some foreign countries. I guess I just have to make my own then.

    Oh, if you could provide more pictures (the process, the final product) that would really be nice 🙂 Overall, thanks for sharing!

  • mrsdmk
    January 19, 2015

    Am just about to roll my strudel up now. This is a great idea! Can’t wait till it’s done! By the way how long should you cool the strudel? I know with some apple pies they say let cool 2 hrs before cutting them let the apples in that thicken. I’ll try to wait half that long if I’m lucky. Also hubby is looking at the brown sugar apples and drooling 😆

  • mrsdmk
    January 19, 2015

    Update to the previous post….Yum this came out delicious 😋
    Tip: Dont think that maybe 2 apples sounds like a too small amount of apples. I cut up 4 medium Red Delicious thinking I’d definitely need 3. Nope the 2 apples the recipe says is spot on. If they’re really small you might use 2 1/2 at most. Oh well at least I had something to snack on while the fabulous fragrance of the cooking strudel filled the house. I almost took it out before it was all the way done because it smelled so good. I will be keeping this recipe! Has anyone made this with other fruits? I was out of raisins so I left those out and it still was great. I’m wondering if this would work with berries? Next time I am using Granny Smith apples.

  • Barbara
    April 21, 2015

    this recipe looks delicious, can I freeze the strudel after it has been baked, if so for how long. alternatively is it best served fresh And can it be refrigerated for several days.

    Thanks for your help………Barbara

  • Nicole
    April 22, 2015

    Barbara – The strudel is best served fresh on the same day it is baked, or the pastry will start to get soggy. I would not recommend freezing it after baking, however you should be able to assemble it ahead of time and freeze it, then bake from frozen, with similar results.

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