I’ve separated the instructions into three separate recipes.
I’ve been away cooking for other people, but I’m back now and continuing the strudel idea. My last post was a tomato strudel with some of my tomato jam. What I never posted was that I also made some apple jam—maple-apple jam to be specific—pretty much following what I did with the tomato jam, but with different seasonings. If you don’t like apple butter because of the heavy spices, you might like an apple jam made to suit your tastes. It might look like an extra thick applesauce if you don’t blend it fine, but it can definitely be spread on a peanut butter sandwich like any other jam. I left mine a little chunky and used ginger, cardamom, and cinnamon.
I had about 2 cups of pecan streusel in the freezer, from some recipe when I made too much. I figured that if you can put streusel on an apple pie, why not put it in a strudel to flavor the apple filling? The flour, butter, and sugar in a streusel thicken the apple juices as the strudel cooks, and the pecans added just the right flavor and texture to each bite.
FYI I’m not used to the new Apple IOS camera filters, so my colors seem a little off. Change 🙄
Maple-Apple Jam
Ingredients
- 4 lbs apples, peeled, cored and chopped—mine were Honeycrisp
- 1 cup pure maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 1 tablespoon ginger paste or grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon cardamom
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoons kosher salt
Preparation
- Combine all ingredients in a large, heavy stockpot.
- Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium-low to keep the jam at a low boil for 2 hours. Stir occasionally, and a little more often during the last 20 minutes. I found that the apples need more stirring than the tomatoes in my tomato jam.
- When the jam is so thick that your wooden spoon leaves a path when dragged across the pan, turn off the heat and fill your jars. Cool slightly before sealing with lids. Refrigerate for up to two weeks or freeze.
Pecan Streusel
Streusel can be frozen to use later. This recipe is enough for at least two strudels.
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 12 tablespoons (3/4 cup) cold butter, diced
- 1/2 cup roughly chopped pecan halves
Preparation
- Combine sugars and vanilla, then stir in remaining dry ingredients.
- Cut in butter with your fingers until well distributed. Don’t worry about some larger chunks of butter.
- Stir in chopped pecans.
Apple Strudel
Although this recipe makes two strudels, I only made one, baking the rest of the apple filling in a baking dish alongside the strudel.
Ingredients
- 2 puff pastry sheets, thawed and rolled to 12″ x 16″
- 1 cup apple jam
- apple filling:
- 5 large apples, peeled, cored, and cut in chunks
- 1 1/2-2 cups pecan streusel
- egg wash: 1 egg whisked with 1/4 cup water
Preparation of one strudel
- Transfer rolled out pastry sheet to a parchment paper lined baking sheet. (Roll the dough around the rolling pin to transfer it.)
- Spread the apple jam down the lengthwise center of the dough, then make about 12 diagonal cuts down each side to create weaving strips.
- Pile half the apple filling on top of the jam down the center of the dough.
- Alternate the pastry strips across the top of the strudel until you reach the end, tucking in the ends as needed.
- Brush the strudel with egg wash.
- Bake at 400º for 35 minutes. You can slide the parchment paper with strudel onto a cooling rack to cool. The strudel can be served warm or cool.
Kitchen Portfolio 
Apple strudel is a classic in my family, and the recipe was passed on from one generation of bakers to the other between my grandma, mother, sister, brother and me. Love preparing it and even more sharing it with my friends!
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Ooh! Real European strudel. I bet that’s good. Sometimes you can still find local festivals in the USA given by communities with European heritage, and you can find some lovely pastries there. For the rest of us, there is frozen puff pastry. 🤷♀️
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