German Apple Strudel Recipe

We invited our friends and family to our house for dinner almost every other month the first half of 2011.  And each time, we tried to make the dinner to a themed dinner.  Asian, Italian, Mexican, Germany, BBQ...Unfortunately, we have been so busy lately, and stopped gathering at our house for this themed dinner thingy. 

On our German themed dinner, I made this German apple strudel.  As always, I used few different recipes I found online and made some adjustments to turn to my own (kind of). 

Ingredients

5 Fuji apples (or Granny Smith apples), peeled, cored, halved, and diced

1/2 cup raisins

rums

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed, plus more for sprinkling

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 tablespoon of nutmeg

1 box phyllo dough, thawed (I didn't use the whole box though)

2 to 4 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces or PAM, melted, plus more for brushing

powder sugar (optional)

Instruction

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Dice your apple evenly. 

3.     And soak your rasins in rum in a microwave safe container.  And heat it for 40 seconds and let it sit for about a minute before draining out the alcohol.

4.     Now mix the apples and the raisins together in a big bowl, add brown sugar, sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon together. 

5.     Set the dough out on the counter, with box still closed, for 1-2 hours to get the dough to room temperature.Open your ready to bake phyllo dough very carefully.  Prepare a clean wet towel because you need to wrap the remaining ones with the towel while you are working on the sheet.  They dry up very quickly, so work fast!



6.     On a large cutting board or counter top, open the box of the dough, and slowly and carefully unroll the package.  Carefully and GENTLY brush the sheet with melted butter or SPAM (I highly recommend PAM for first timer, it's much easier to work with on the sheets). Please try not to tear the dough.  Repeat the same process, until you get 5-6 layers.  When you get to the last layer, fill in with the mixture of the apples and rasins.  

PS: In between each layer, sprinkle some brown sugar.  The brown sugar would make the dough more flavorful and the texture will be crispier. 

 

7.     Bake in the preheat oven for approximately 45mins or until golden brown outside.

Done and sprinkle with powder sugar while you serve!