Apple Strudel with Calvados Brown Butter Sauce

At a recent Hands On Gourmet event the Apple Strudel took center stage. Everyone that was involved in making this all time classic pastry became tickled pink. Laughter, butter and apples are great ingredients for fun!

Strudel is an age old Viennese pastry that has a wonderfully simple tart, sweet, juicy apple filling.  The dough is super stretchy and elastic as the photo shows. And that really is the secret to get up off your chair and yodel strudel. If your dough is tough or you elect to use boring store bought phyllo dough then it might not be as sexy.

The filling is made from spiced local apples, plump currents, tart lemon and warm spice. It’s the absolute perfect comfort food.

Our twist on this winter comfort food is the sauce.  It’s made from calvados, an apple brandy from the Normandy region of France, and nutty brown butter.

Go on.. give it a try. Invite some friends over, knock on your neighbors door and get a stretching. It takes a village to make this magic.

Apple Strudel with Calvados Brown Butter

Serves 8-10 people

Ingredients
For the Dough
1½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1 well-beaten egg
⅓ cup tepid water (or milk)
2 teaspoons melted butter

Extra flour for dusting

For the Sauce
1 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons calvados, apple liqueur

For the Apple Strudel
1 tablespoon cinnamon
4 to 6 tablespoons bread crumbs
1 tablespoon lemon rind
1 cup sugar
¾ cup raisins or currants
6 to 8 apples, thinly sliced

To Garnish
ground cinnamon
powdered sugar

Special Equipment
mandolin

Instructions
For the Apple Strudel Filling
Mix cinnamon with browned bread crumbs and lemon rind. Combine it with the sugar, raisins, and apples. Set aside. This will be your filling.

For the Dough
Pour 1½ cups flour on a clean work space and make a well in the center. Pour the egg, water (or milk), and 2 teaspoons melted butter, into the well. Use your hands to combine these ingredients into a ball, and knead for 10 minutes.
Brush your ball of dough with melted butter, cover it with a warm bowl, and let it rest for 30 min. Separate the dough into 4 pieces.
Now roll the dough out as thin as you can, being sure not to make holes in it. Use your hands to stretch the dough gently so it is as thin as a piece of paper. This works well if you have at least two people stretching the dough.
Brush the dough with melted butter. Spread the filling onto the dough, leaving the edge clear. Sprinkle cinnamon over the filling.
Now roll the dough into a cylinder with the filling inside, and brush with melted butter. Sprinkle with water, then slide it onto a sheet pan.

Bake at 400º for 20 minutes, then lower the heat to 350º, brush the strudel with the remaining butter, and bake until golden brown (about 10 more minutes).

To serve
Remove from oven and dust with powdered sugar. Cut into long diagonal slices, and serve with butterscotch sauce.

For the Sauce
Combine the sugar, cream and butter in saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla and calvados.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 8th, 2010 at 8:09 pm and is filed under Sweet Treats , apple, brown butter, cooking parties, events classes, hands on gourmet, sauce, strudel, strudel dough. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.