Apple Strudel

Not my best picture but it tasted good.  For Rosh Hashana, Happy New Year / Shono Tova to all, we went to our friends for the big meal.  Us Jews, we are all about the meal.  I brought the dessert and salad.  Apple's are pretty essential for this meal.  Apples and honey. 

Haven't made a strudel in awhile.  Working with phyllo dough is not so much difficult but it tends to break when baking and sometimes even before you get to the oven.  The key is really keeping a warm/wet towel on top of the phyllo dough each time you use it, make sure you put the towel back on.

I actually made the inside of the strudel before making it.  5 apples (golden delicious), peeled and sliced into about 1/8 inch slices.  I use one of those apple slicers.  Makes life easier.  Then I just need to take off the skin and seeds.  Use 1/2 stick unsalted butter and melt in a large non-stick pan.  Take the apples, 1/4 cup of sugar, 1 t. cinnamon 1/2 t. kosher salt, 1 T. juice of a lemon, grate the rind of one lemon too.  Mix this all together and then put in the pan and cook at a medium heat for about 20 minutes or until the apples are soft.  Strain and set aside until this is cool.  You can always add 1/3 cup of walnuts or 1/2 cup of golden raisins or currants.  I opted for neither. 

While the apples are cooling take out another small pan.  Melt 2 T. butter.  Put in 1/3 cup of bread crumbs and toast until they are golden brown.  Once the apples cool, mix the bread crumbs with the apple.

On a large part of parchment paper over a cookie sheet I put down my first piece of phyllo dough.  Keep on hand a large bowl of melted butter and a small bowl of white granulated sugar.  The key is also using a good pastry brush.  After putting down one piece of phyllo, brush with butter and then shake a little sugar over it.  This will adhere the phyllo pieces together and hopefully they won't separate as much in the oven.  Continue this process until you have done 5 sheets.

Now put your apples in the middle of the sheets leaving about 2 inches on each side.  Fold over the two left sides over the apples.  Then fold over the bottom on top of the apples and the other folded pieces.  Now roll over, very gently until you have created a strudel.  I used a huge spatula to do this and my hands.  Very tricky.  Now coat that with butter and sugar.  Put in the oven at 375 and bake for about 40 minutes or until browned. 

With the left over phyllo down I made small triangles of stuffed phyllo with my favorite jams and baked them in the oven.  They were a huge hit.