Old-style Bavarian appelstrudel

I have become the biggest Strudel-fan ever. I love it. The dough is so fun to make, you can fill it with almost anything and it is always amazing. I found the recipe for this apple strudel at the website of the Bavarian TV. I was curious about it as brown butter and sour cream are used in the filling and the strudel is baked in vanilla-milk.

It is a wonderful recipe, this strudel is like an apple cake with soft and creamy filling. It tastes even better the next day!

Old-style Bavarian appelstrudel
serves 6
recipe from Bavarian TV
3 Boskoop apples (about 600 gr)
50 gr butter
50 gr raisins
150 gr sour cream
1/2 dl sugar
1 tsp cassia cinnamon
1 dl + 2 tbsp milk
half a vanilla bean

2 dl strong flour (I used white spelt flour)
2 tbsp oil
pinch of salt
about 5 tbsp warm water

baking dish 17x26 cm (1,2l)

First make the strudel dough and let it rest for about one hour. In the meantime prepare the apple filling.

On medium heat melt the butter and let it get brown, it takes about 15 minutes. Set aside so that the brown milk solids settle on the bottom of the pan.
Mix the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Scrape the vanilla bean seeds and add to the milk. Peel the apples, cut in quarters, core and slice in thin slices.

Stretch the strudel dough to a 65x45 cm, cut the thick edges so that you have a nice thin strudel sheet 60x40cm. Let it dry for about 10 minutes. In the mean time pour brown butter in a small bowl, try to leave as much as you can of the brown milk solids in the sauce pan. Brush the strudel dough with brown butter. Save a bit of butter for the baking dish and for brushing the strudel when rolled.

Heat oven to 200C. Cut the strudel sheet in half so that you have two 20x30 sheets. Spread the apples on the short side, over a bit less then half of the dough, leaving an edge all around. Sprinkle raisins over the apples and spread the sugar mixture all over the apples and over the empty part of the strudel sheet. Spread the sour cream over the apples. Fold in the edges and roll the strudel. As you roll keep on folding the edges over so that the filling does not escape.

Butter a bit the baking dish, put the two strudels inside and brush strudels with brown butter. Pour inside the vanilla milk and bake for about 50 minutes. Let it cool completely before serving. The best is to make it in the morning and serve in the afternoon.

Bramley apples

I have been curious about Bramley apples for a very long time, and finally I got a chance to cook with them. Bramley apples are British and almost all UK recipes, where apples are included, call for Bramley apples.

They even have their own web-page where they are described as "superior to other dessert apples when cooked". The web-page has some great recipes as well. So what can put these apples to the test if not good old apple strudel!

The strudel turned out excellent and Bramley apples were amazing. They are melting away and the taste is wonderful. Bramley apples have passed the test. But all of you who are not able buy them, do not worry, Boskoop apples, which are easier to find outside the UK are as good as Bramley.

Apple strudel serves 64-5 apples (500 gr when peeled and cored)
2 tbsp lemon juice
1,5 dl breadcrumbs
65 gr butter
1/2 dl sugar
1 dl raisins
3 tbsp rum
1 dl chopped walnuts
1/2 tsp cinnamon

homemade strudel dough or phyllo

If you are doing your own strudel dough start with it and let it rest while you are preparing the filling. Peel the apples, cut them in quarters, core and slice in thin slices. Add lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon to the apples and set aside. Heat the rum in a saucepan and add raisins. Take off the heat and set aside.

Roll and stretch out the strudel dough until thin. I find it easier to handle the dough if I let it dry a bit while I am preparing the breadcrumbs.

Melt the butter in a pan. Take away 4 tbsp of melted butter that you will use for brushing the strudel later on. Add the breadcrumbs to the pan and fry until golden. Should look something like this:

Add raisins and walnuts to the apples. Brush the strudel dough with butter. Sprinkle breadcrumbs all over the dough, leaving 5 cm edge all around. Spread the apples only over half of the dough. Fold in the edges on the sides, fold in the dough on the short side.

With the help of the cloth start rolling the strudel until you have used all the dough.

With the help of the cloth put the strudel on a baking sheet, brush with butter and bake in preheated oven 200 C for about 35 minutes.

Strudel is traditionally sprinkled with powdered sugar and served with vanilla sauce. I serve the strudel just like it is, simple and delicious.

Boskoop apples

Recently I tried apple fritters made with the most amazing apples ever, Boskoop apples. These fabulous apples almost transform into apple sauce when cooked, they are simply melting away.
I just couldn't wait to make my favourite apple cake with these amazing apples from the Netherlands.

I used kamut flour in the dough and kamut semolina in the filling. Kamut semolina makes sure that juice from apples doesn't make the cake wet and soggy. Vanilla and lemon in the dough are a must.

I made the cake in my cast iron pan, works perfectly.

Apple cake
75 gr butter
2,5 dl kamut flour
4 tbsp sugar
1 egg
1\2 tsp baking powder
few drops lemon oil (or some lemon zest)
seeds of 1 vanilla pod
1 dl sliced almonds

6 Boskoop apples, peeled and thinly sliced
2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 tbsp sugar
1/2 dl water
2 tbsp kamut semolina

Rub butter and flour until you get coarse crumbs. Add sugar, baking powder, egg, lemon oil, vanilla and mix quickly. Wrap in the foil and put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, the dough needs to get chilled.

In the meantime, put the sliced apples, cinnamon, sugar and water in a pan and cook for about 10 minutes. Apples should get a bit soft and loose some of their water. Let the apples cool down a bit.

Cover the bottom of the pan with the sliced almonds. Divide the dough in two parts. My iron cast pan is about 22 cm in the bottom and 25 cm higher up so I take a little bit less dough for the bottom and little bit more for the cover.

Put the smaller disc over the almonds, sprinkle semolina over the dough and spread the apple filling over semolina. Cover with the other dough disc and bake in the preheated oven, 180C for about 25 minutes.

Let the cake cool down for about 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edges to make sure that nothing is stuck. Invert on a plate and cut first when it has cooled down to warm.

Kumquat and apple charlotte

Kumquats and apples go really well together. In this charlotte I was tempted to use only kumquats but thought the flavor could be too strong (can have too much of kumquats after all).
I also like to use brioche instead of bread loaf when making charlotte because I think it gives a perfect crispy/buttery/juicy combination. This recipe serves 4 individual charlottes.

Kumquat and apple charlotte
4 apples
15 kumquats
juice of one orange
1/2 dl sugar
150 gr butter
14 slices brioche (size of a bread loaf), a bit dried out
4 individual pudding molds

Peel and core the apples and cut into small pieces. Slice and seed kumquats. Melt a spoon of butter in a pan, add the fruits, orange juice and sugar and cook on a low heat for about 20 minutes. Set aside to cool a bit.

In the meantime cut the edges of the brioche and cut 4 circles that will cover the bottom of the pudding mold.Cut the rest of the brioche in 3 cm wide rectangles. Melt the rest of the butter and brush each piece of the brioche on both sides.

Put the circles on the bottom of the pudding mold and line around with the brioche rectangles. rectangles should be a bit bigger then the mold as you will seal the pudding with them. Fill the mold with the fruits and seal it.

Preheat the oven 200 C and put the molds in. To keep everything in place while baking and to get a nice shape place a heavy heatproof plate or similar on the top of the molds. Bake for about 20 minutes, take of the heavy plate and bake until the top is golden. Charlotte is best eaten while warm.