I don’t know about you but I am sucker for anything with an apple and cinnamon filling and so apple strudel is one of my favourite sweet treats. It’s quite a traditional thing to bake for Xmas in many countries of central Europe and it used to be a staple of my childhood Xmas too. Strudel has quite a reputation for being impossible to make, but I don’t actually think it is that difficult provided you don’t expect yours to rival that of an accomplished strudel master on your first try 😉 .
The dough traditionally used for strudel resembles that used to make pierogi or ravioli. It’s made of wheat flour and oil and most of the non-vegan versions contain an egg, which I replaced with extra oil for good dough elasticity. Elasticity is what scares most people. The dough is first rolled out using a rolling pin and then stretched out super thinly using your hands. The thinner the dough the better and it is said that you must be able to read a newspaper print through it or at the very least clearly see the pattern of the kitchen towel underneath. If handling a massive sheet of dough in your hands scares you, don’t worry. Simply roll it out as thinly as you can using a rolling pin and then gently stretch with your hands without lifting it off the table – just be sure go round the table pulling the dough very gently in all directions. While strudel does taste heavenly, it is not much of a looker so please do not get discouraged if it doesn’t look that appetising when you are done with it. Sprinkle it with a generous amount of icing sugar and serve it still warm with (it’s not traditional to do that) or without a scoop of vanilla ice cream for that nice contrast between hot and cold. Enjoy!
15 g / 1 tbsp neutral tasting oil (I used coconut oil (melted) 30 g / 3 tbsp breadcrumbs, toasted on a dry pan 800 g / 28 oz apples (I recommend sour apples, like Bramley) approx. 100 g / ½ cup sugar* (coconut sugar for refined sugar free version) 1-1½ tsp ground cinnamon, adjust to taste 30 g / ¼ cup raisins, soaked in boiling water for 10 min (optional) icing sugar, to decorate
