"You prefer strudel or pie honey?"
(Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them - Queenie Goldstein)
The long awaited sequel to my all-time favourite Wizarding World movie - Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them - comes into theatres across the globe today! And even though I went to the advanced screening last night (it's AMAZING by the way - though no movie will ever surpass the love I have for the first one!) I still had to post this recipe today - because I am obviously still in 100% hyper fan-girl mode!
Sadly, it takes us muggle's a fair bit longer than Queenie Goldstein to make the perfect apple strudel - but I bet it tastes just as good!
This was actually a pretty important recipe for me to perfect since (as some of you may know) I am allergic to cinnamon - so no donuts, no pies, no granola, no custard desserts and especially no leaving the house during the Christmas season!
But I've actually managed to substitute a brown sugar and spices mix pretty successfully with this recipe - and I know a few people who prefer it this way since it brings out a lot more of the apple flavour - yum!
Queenie's Apple Strudel
serves: 6 dessert servings
Ingredients:
2 sheets puff pastry (I usually make this myself but store-bought works quite well for this recipe since it's a bit stiffer and holds the apple roses better)
½ cup Raisins
2 Tbsp unsalted Butter
3 Tbsp Apple Juice
⅓ cup Breadcrumbs
⅓ cup + 1 Tb Granulated Sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp Brown Sugar
¼ tsp Nutmeg
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
4 large Gala Apples
½ cup Syrup (50% water 50% sugar mix - cooked and slightly thickened)
Method:
Preheat your oven to 180°C (approximately 350°F) and line a deep baking pan with wax paper.
Combine raisins and apple juice in a small saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer. Take it off the heat and pour into a heat safe container & cover with a lid to keep warm.
Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in the now-empty saucepan, add the breadcrumbs and cook for a few minutes until the breadcrumbs brown and start to smell a bit toasty!
Slice the apples - making sure to gather 10 very very thin slices first (they should be thin enough to almost see through and a bit flexible). Soak these slices in warm water mixed with a little bit of sugar whilst you continue making the strudel. Slice the rest of the apples roughly into small cubes.
Combine the cubed apple with the raisins, breadcrumbs, granulated and brown sugar, nutmeg, salt and lemon juice. Mix well.
Create a large pile of this mixture along the middle of one sheet of pastry, and then fold the top and bottom of the pastry around it to create a strudel form. Cut the other sheet into thin (between 1-2 cms) strips and plait these together to create short braids. Wrap these braids around the strudel about a quarter of the way into the pastry on each side.
Brush the pastry with 1 tablespoon of melted butter and cook for 10 minutes. Whilst this is cooking, remove the apple slices from the sugar soak and curl into roses (you can keep these in egg cups to hold shape until you remove the pastry.
Make small incisions into the slightly cooked pastry beside the braids, and use these to anchor the base of the roses. Brush the entire pastry with the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and return to bake for 10-15 minutes until golden and cooked.
Dust gently with icing sugar and enjoy!
So you can definitely add more or less details to make it 100% as beautiful as Queenie's, but I find that strudel is generally finished so quickly it doesn't last long enough for a ton of pictures!
As always, feel free to share any pics or feedback from this recipe with me - or even if you've edited it even further for a different taste!
Until next time - enjoy!