The truth is I'm not much of a baker. Bakers need to be very precise, measuring and weighing and paying particular attention to pre-heating the oven, timing the baking etc. I prefer to bake things the way I cook: slapdash, with room to improvise and without paying much attention to measuring.
So an easy apple strudel is pretty much my perfect baking "recipe"!
I had some Granny Smith apples lying around and beginning to look slightly worse for the wear, so I peeled them up and chopped them into chunky slices.
After a quick spritz of fresh lemon juice I stirred cinnamon sugar into the whole lot: basically about 3 tablespoons of sugar mixed with 1 tablespoon of cinnamon.
Meanwhile I prepared the thawed phyllo dough, layering five sheets on top of a layer of parchment paper with generous brushings of about a third a cup of melted butter (for plant-based diets melted Earth Balance baking sticks work really well).
Topple the prepared apples onto one end of the prepared phyllo dough. Then you've got the fun part: grab the full end, pull the dough up all around the apples and roll to the other side, tucking in the whole way.
You'll want the seam of the roll to be underneath the strudel on the parchment-covered baking sheet.
Brush with whatever remaining butter you have, then sprinkle the whole thing fetchingly with more cinnamon sugar.
I baked this strudel for about 20 minutes in a 350 oven, but my La Cornue convection oven is super hot. Your oven might need more time.
Voila you have a gorgeous strudel, perfect for dessert on a winter evening!
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| The finished strudel. |
I leave you with a picture of our neighbourhood in the deep freeze. It's been so cold yet also quite beautiful, the light is low yet bright.
Today it's time to re-stock some cupboards, so I'll be out and about procuring supplies. Then this afternoon Middle Rascal and I are off to visit with one of the Lauras and her older daughter (who's also home on a break from Uni), we'll have cocktails together as they discuss school and life, and Laura and I will remember them running around at age four and five, playing with their "habitat animals" and sidewalk chalk!
Enjoy your day today, maybe you'll do some slapdash baking?
xoxDani
