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Apple strudel with crisp filo, the whole dishApple strudel with crisp filo, close up

Apple strudel with crisp filo

70 min · 7 g protein · 270 cals / serving

The Austrian-style café classic made with store-bought filo: tart apples, cinnamon, brandy-soaked raisins and toasted walnuts rolled in buttered layers of pastry and baked until the outside shatters. Alternating a thin brush of butter with a mist of spray, the filo still bakes crisp on a quarter of the usual butter, and a thick vanilla skyr cream stands in for the whipped cream. The recipe makes two strudels, four slices each.

Servings8

Ingredients

Filling

Pastry

Vanilla cream

Steps

  1. Put the raisins in a small bowl with the brandy and leave them to soak for 15 minutes, or microwave them together for 20 seconds to speed it up.
  2. Toast the breadcrumbs and walnuts in a dry pan over medium heat, stirring, for 3–4 minutes until golden. Tip into a bowl.
  3. Heat the oven to 375°F and line a large baking sheet. Toss the apples with the lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon and the raisins with any brandy left in the bowl. Let them stand while you lay out the pastry, then drain off any juice that collects so the pastry stays crisp.
  4. Lay a clean tea towel on the counter with a long side towards you. Place one filo sheet on it and brush it very lightly with butter, lay the next on top and mist it with cooking spray, and keep alternating butter and spray until you have a stack of 6 sheets. A thin film on each layer is all filo needs to bake crisp; save a little butter for the tops.Step 4, what it should look like
  5. Scatter half the toasted crumbs and walnuts over the lower two-thirds of the stack, leaving a 2 inch border at the sides, and pile half the apples over them in a log along the near edge. Fold the sides in, then use the towel to roll the strudel up away from you and roll it onto the baking sheet seam-side down. Repeat with the other 6 sheets and the rest of the filling to make a second strudel beside the first. Brush both with the last of the butter and cut 3 shallow slits in each top.Step 5, what it should look like
  6. Bake 30–35 minutes, until deep golden and the apples are tender when you push a skewer through a slit. Cool 15 minutes, dust with powdered sugar and slice with a serrated knife. Stir the skyr with the maple syrup and vanilla into a thick vanilla cream and serve a big spoonful beside each warm slice.Step 6, what it should look like

Good to know

My filo keeps tearing. Does it matter?

Not at all. Patch tears with a scrap and carry on; with six layers in each strudel nobody will ever see them. Keep the sheets you are not using under a damp towel, because filo dries and cracks within minutes in the air.

Can I serve it with cream or custard instead?

Of course. In Vienna it comes with whipped cream or vanilla sauce. Lightly whipped cream in place of the skyr cream is richer, at about 8 instead of 24.

Can I have some real whipped cream with it?

Yes, a little goes a long way: fold 1/4 cup of cream, whipped to soft peaks, into 200 g of skyr in place of the maple syrup. It tastes much closer to the café version, at about 17 instead of 24.

Which apples work best?

Firm, tart ones that hold their shape: Granny Smith, Braeburn, Bramley or Honeycrisp. Soft sweet apples turn to purée and make the bottom soggy.

Alternatives

Per

Calories
160
Protein
(10%)
4 g
Fat
(22%)
4 g
Carbohydrates
(68%)
27 g
of which sugar
17 g
Fiber
2 g
Sodium
92 mg

About 30% of the alcohol remains after cooking; the label counts only that.

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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How

As written, 2159 kcal goes into the pot and 1529 g of ingredients comes out as about 1350 g of food: 160 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.