Nothing says autumn is approaching more than the sight of apples dropping all over place before you’ve had a chance to pick them! And as the night start to draw in, there is no better way to snuggle down ready for chilly evenings than with a home-made hygge recipe for an apple pudding, smug in the satisfaction that you’ve rescued a few windfalls… it’s absolutely delicious with a dollop of vanilla ice cream or a glug of custard. If you’ve found a good haul of blackberries too, check out our famous fruit vinegar recipe here, or have a go at our hedgerow schnapps, the perfect make-ahead Christmas foodie gift!
Ingredients
1 sheet of ready made puff pastry, room temperature
4 dessert apples (Granny Smith work very well in this recipe as they are pleasingly tart)
100g marzipan, chilled
75g hazelnuts or walnuts, roughly chopped
25g soft dark brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp plain flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
A squeeze of lemon juice
20g flaked almonds
Pearl sugar or granulated sugar to decorate
- Pop the marzipan in the fridge for an hour or so (or even better overnight); this helps to make grating it so much easier!
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and slide in a baking sheet to warm up (check the puff pastry will fit on the sheet first).
- Peel and core the apples. Slice thinly and place in a medium bowl, then add the sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice, giving everything a good stir.
- Roll out the puff pastry, and lay a second sheet of baking paper on your work surface.
- Sprinkle the flour over the apples and stir well.
- Working on the greaseproof sheet supplied with it, spread the mixture down the length of the pastry so it covers the central third; leave the last 2cms of the short ends free.
- Brush a little beaten egg on both short ends of the pastry and along the lower side.
- Fold the top third of the pastry over the mixture before bringing up the eggy bottom edge. Press gently along the long edge to seal.
- Using the packaging paper, carefully flip the strudel over onto the new clean sheet. Press along the short edges with a fork to seal them well, then brush your creation with beaten egg.
- Slash the top of the strudel with a sharp knife at 2cm intervals to allow steam to escape, then sprinkle the top with flaked almonds and a little pearl/granulated sugar.
- (Carefully!) take the hot baking sheet from the oven and slide the strudel on to it using the baking paper (preheating the sheet reduces the chance of the dreaded soggy bottom!).
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the centre of the oven until golden brown.
