Garden apple strudel- the cheats way!

I can’t believe this is party #24 at Fiesta Friday! I’m exhausted just thinking about it and I’ve missed a few… Angie at the novice gardener must be in a constant party-like-state, I couldn’t do it, I just don’t have the stamina!

This week I’m bringing a really quick and easy bake, inspired by a cookbook collection cheats chocolate ganache tarts post yesterday, (if you haven’t met Donna, then you really should go visit). Donna’s post described how she cheated by using shop bought pastry tarts; just like Donna, when I’m feeling that life is just too short to spend hours making pastry, I cheat too!

All this pastry talk reminded me of a quick bake I did last week. I needed to free up space in the freezer and all the other ingredients I needed were in the pantry, so that was free and easy. I should point out at this stage, that because I was clearing the freezer and cooking half a dozen other things that evening, I didn’t take many photos!

The apples I used were the last of the amazing crop to come from The Glen House garden. They had been sat in the freezer alongside my emergency stash of frozen pastry. Once again, free and easy!

This is not a classic apple strudel please don’t moan, this is my cobbled together, ‘out-of-the-freezer-and-pantry’ strudel…..

Ingredients
375g ready-rolled puff pastry
Flour for dusting
4 medium bramley apples
100g sultanas
100g pecans
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp milk
Caster sugar for dusting

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C, I of course turned the rayburn off! On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry, so it is thinner than a coin.

Chop the apples and spread over the pastry, making sure the apple is evenly spread, followed by the pecans and sultanas and a sprinkling of cinnamon and nutmeg. I used these nuts and spices because I love the taste, you can leave them out….

Press the pastry together along the seam, seal with a fork and brush all over with milk. Transfer to a lined baking sheet.

Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes until golden and puffed up. Leave to cool on a wire rack. When cold, sprinkle with some caster sugar, then cut into slices.

It was delicious served alongside another freezer cheat- shop bought icecream!

Happy Friday,

Melissa xx