This recipe for Apfelstrudel is a melt in your mouth gastronomy experience, with spiced grated apples, currants, and nuts wrapped in puff pastry and finished with powder sugar.
This traditional dessert originating in Vienna Austria, became popular as it spread throughout the Austro-Hungarian empire at the start of the 19th century. The word ‘strudel’ means ‘swirl’ or ‘whirlpool’ in old German. This is an apt description of the pastry inter swirling around the apple filling
Drizzle some German Vanilla Sauce over it and indulge. It might even be better than Oma’s!
Ingredients For Apfelstrudel
Here’s the line up.
- Apples. When baking with apples, I like to use ones that are crisp, sweet and juicy, for example, Fuji, Gala and Honeycrisp. I used SweeTango apples.
- Puff Pastry sheet (such as Pepperidge Farm), will give a guaranteed, no fuss pastry success. Allow to thaw for about 40 minutes prior.
- Breadcrumbs. The authentic way to make Apfelstrudel requires the grating of apples. As a result, there is more juice and the pastry will end up soggy. Stop this from happening by adding breadcrumbs. Use crumbs from non savory breads, such as wholewheat. If purchasing store bought breadcrumbs, do not buy savory breadcrumbs like Italian Herb or Parmesan. Choose plain flavored ones. I used a piece of cornbread that was leftover one evening after dinner and I froze it. Glad I did.
- Dried fruit, I used Zante currants, which are a type of raisin.
- Nuts, such as almonds, pecans, walnuts, and pine nuts.
- Sugar, brown is best adding more flavor than white
- Egg for egg wash when the Apfelstrudel is ready and before it goes in the oven.
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Chop nuts if almonds, pecans or walnuts are used. I chose almond slices, that I toasted under the broiler to add extra flavor.
Pastry preparation is next. All that is needed to do, is unfold the puff pastry sheet and roll it out to eliminate the fold creases and to increase the surface area. I did this on a silpat baking mat. (See the Equipment section for more info). This method meant I did not have to lift it from a floured surface to a baking sheet.
Crack egg into a bowl and whisk together. You’ll use this egg wash soon, so set it aside.
The very last step is to prepare the apples. As they are grated, they will brown quicker, so have a bowl ready with lemon juice in it. Peel and core apples. If hand grating, keep them in larger pieces to make it easier. I used my food processor, so I had to cut them to the size of the feed tube on the food processor.
Visualize the pastry into thirds. Using a knife, cut 1″ slits into the pastry, at a diagonal on either side of the center third. Spoon the apple mixture down the center third of the pastry, lengthwise. Starting from one end, fold the braids one after the other, alternating sides, angled over the apple mix. Continue braiding till you read the other end, seal the ends properly.
Wrap pastry over apples.
Brush strudel with egg wash.
Finish by brushing the Apfelstrudel with the egg wash. Then place it in a 400 degree F oven until golden brown, around 35 minutes.
Flexibility with Ingredients
Any kind of apple can be used. Some apples are less sweet and will need more sugar added. As apples are grated, no pre cooking of them is needed.
Use crumbs from regular breads like white, wheat, challah, English muffins, or use crumbled stale muffins, corn bread or pound cake.
Feel free to make your own pastry. Puff or flaky pastry is preferable over phyllo or shortcrust. You’ll need 8oz of pastry.
What ever dried fruit, nuts and type of sugar is really your choice. What sounds good in the recipe and what I already have at home is typically how I make my choice.
Flexibility with Method
How you envelop the pastry around the apples can be your own work of art. There are lots of ways to showcase beautiful pastry designs.
Apples do not need to be grated, although this is the authentic way to make Apfelstrudel. If you choose older apples and prefer to cut apples into chunks, then breadcrumbs will not be needed, so omit them.
Uses
Apfelstrudel is primarily served as a sweet treat for ‘Kaffee und Kuchen” (literal translation – coffee and cake.). This is is a very German social ritual, where friends and family gather to spend a leisurely afternoon together, to enjoy coffee, cake, and conversation.
It can also be served as a dessert and it has even been known to appear at breakfast time!
Another delicious sweet treat made from puff pastry are Nutella Turnovers.
Storage of Apfelstrudel
Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature or up to 5 days in the refrigerator.
Freeze for up to 2 weeks, defrost in the refrigerator overnight.
A Tip From Me
As mentioned above, rolling pastry or even cookie dough on a silpat baking mat makes things easier. Silpat mats are made from food grade silicone. Lining a baking tray with a silpat mat provides consistent heat distribution and makes clean up easy.
Some manufacturers have measurements and indents to help get the perfect size of cookie or pastry cut out.
See below for a link to purchase these mats.
Equipment
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Got Questions?
I’ve got answers – hopefully!
- My apples turned browner than I would have liked. What can I do to prevent that from happening? This will unfortunately happen, to a certain extent, because grating the apples causes faster oxidation. Leave the apple grating as the last step. Add a little more lemon juice. Work quickly. Or if you really don’t want any brown, then cut apples into chunks.
- Should it be served warm or cold? Room temperature is my favorite way to eat it, warm is also good.
- I’ve seen Apfelstrudel made where the apples are spread out over the pastry and then wrapped up. Why not make it that way? That is an acceptable way to do it. The risk with this style of preparation is that the pastry inside does not cook fully.
- I have a nut allergy, can I omit the nuts? Yes, make this recipe your own!
Recipe for Apfelstrudel
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb apples about 3 large apples
- 1 sheet puff pastry Pepperidge Farm
- 5 oz breadcrumbs
- 2 oz nuts
- 2 oz dried fruit
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp powder sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Toast or chop nuts if they are raw or whole .
- Put all dry ingredients in one bowl.
- Lay out pastry sheet onto a baking tray lined with a silpat mat. Roll the pastry with a rolling pin to stretch it and remove the fold creases.
- Cut strips of about 1/2 inch (1 cm) on both sides of the puff pastry.
- Crack the egg into a bowl and whisk to make egg wash.
- Put lemon juice into a bowl.
- Peel and core apples. Using a hand grater or food processor, grate the apples.
- Add apples to lemon juice and mix.
- Add apple mixture to the bowl with dry ingredients in it and mix.
- Spoon apple mixture onto the center part of the pastry. Even it out. Then bring the strips of pastry over the apple mixture from one side to the other. Continue to make a braid of the puff pastry, crossing the strips over each other.
- Brush with egg wash.
- Put the Apfelstrudel in the oven until golden brown about 35 minutes.
- Allow to cool and dust with icing sugar before serving.
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