Apple Strudel a Houston Classic

A couple of nights ago I decided to make an Apple Strudel, and I found an amazing recipe in the book Houston Classic Desserts.

After moving to Pennsylvania and being surrounded by oil field people all I hear is talk about Texas. Mainly Houston and the AMAZING restaurants that are there. This cookbook contains all the classic recipes from favorite Texas restaurants such as The Lexington Grille Creme Brulee (which I have heard heavenly thoughts about) to the Blueberry Tart at Marks. This book is going to make your mouth water!


The Apple Strudel recipe comes from Brenner's. What is Brenner's? Well it opened in 1936 as a cafe but is now a steakhouse with a great past and even better Apple Strudel.

Here is the super amazing
Apple Strudel recipe

Yield: One Strudel, 8 Servings

Filling
• 1 c. unsalted butter
• 1/4 pounds brown sugar
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon (the strong good stuff)
• 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 2 Tbls. Meyers Rum
• 6 apples, peeled, cored and sliced (2.5 pounds)
• 1/4 c. cornstarch
• 1/3 c. cold water

• In a extra large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat.

• Add the brown sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice and rum. Whisk until completely incorporated.

• Add the apples to the sugar mixture and cook over medium heat until cooked through, approximately 20 minutes. Combine the cornstarch and water... add mixture to skillet. Cook until mixture thickens, and then turn off heat. Transfer to an appropriate storage container. Cool in an ice bath.

• Place the cooled strudel filling into a perfprated pan and allow most of the juices to drain.

Assembly

• 1 batch apple strudel filling (see above)
• 1 each puff pastry sheets, thawed
• 1/4 cup toasted pecans
• as needed all purpose flour water, egg wash

• Place a linen napkin down on a work table. Dust the napkin with flour and place puff pastry on the floured napkin. Roll out to twice its original size (about the size of the napkin)

• Place the strudel filling in the center third of the puff pastry, then sprinkle 1/4 cup of pecans on top. Fold one end of pastry over the filling (using the napkin to fold it) brush with water, fold over the other end, gently press together.

• Pinch excess pastry from the ends and fold the ends over the top (all seams should be on the same side). Flip so the seam is on the bottom. Place strudel on a parchment lined sheet pan, and brush with egg wash. Cover and freeze for at least 12 hours. (I did mine over night)

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees

• Remove the strudel from the freezer and place on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Brush again with egg wash.

• Bake frozen strudel until golden brown on the outside. About 20 minutes. Slice each strudel into eight equal pieces. Discard a 1 inch piece on each end.

• Serve with vanilla ice cream


Enjoy!!!

xo