As mentioned in my first basic budget tips post I always check the reduced sections when out grocery shopping. At the moment there always seems to be fresh puff pastry packs, usually anchor, in the chilled reduced section. I grabbed one and a 'roll back' short crust for some planned cooking/baking later in the week. You can freeze these blocks so don't worry if you spot some reduced and don't have any imminent baking plans!
I love baking. It's an activity I like to involve G in, so the more simple the process the better at this age. Ready made pastry also obviously saves time which there never seems to be enough of! Cooking/baking everything yourself instead of buying it ready made from the shop isn't always cheaper like people like to preach (though this one would be if pastry was done from scratch - but it then still depends on what you're already stocked up on) but you can get past the problem of not finding exactly what you want.
I thought it would be nice to try out using orange juice and rind instead of the usual lemon for this recipe.
Our strudel turned out lovely but possibly a bit on the sweet side for those who don't have a sweet tooth.
Not everyone uses egg so feel free to leave this out if you prefer.
Recipe
Ingredients:
- Block of puff* pastry 500g
- 4 ready to eat apples
- Sultanas
- 50g Brown Sugar
- Flat tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- Orange rind and 1-2 tbsp juice
- 1 tsp margerine/butter
- 1tbsp flour
- 1 small egg (optional)
- Icing sugar for dusting
Method:
- Preheat oven to 180oc
- Roll out the puff pastry on a floured or icing sugar coated surface
- Roll into a large oblong shape
- Peel, core and chop apples into small chunks or thin slices
- Grate orange and add rind to the apples, then slice and add the juice of one half of the orange. Make sure the apple is coated.
- Add chopped apples, sugar and a handful or two of sultanas to your mixing bowl
- Add small knob of butter/marge
- Add the cinnamon and nutmeg and mix well
- Add 1tbsp flour, mix well.
- Add the egg and mix well
- Place mixture in a straight line along side of the pastry (leaving a gap between the mixture and the bottom edge of the pastry).
- Fold the pastry over, sealing the filling inside.
- Make horizontal slices in the top (up to you how many) to allow steam to escape.
- Bake for 20 - 25 minutes until golden brown.
We served ours with custard the first time and ice cream the next. It's not keeping inline with my getting fit and healthy but it's a lovely pudding for the cold Autumn and Winter months.
*Strudel is also often made with filo pastry, the method is just slightly different when filling.
