Apple Strudel
This easy short cut version of apple strudel is full of flavor and will impress your family. It takes just a short amount of time by using pre-made puff pastry.
Equipment
- 1 sheet pan
Ingredients
- 1 square frozen puff pastry, thawed *all butter if possible
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened *full fat (not spreadable)
- ⅓ cup confectioners sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla
- 2 cups Apple pie filling, cooled *I prefer to make my own
- 1 tsp decorators sugar (for the top)
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp water
Instructions
- on a lightly floured surface or sheet of parchment Roll out the thawed puff pastry to roughly a 16x12" rectangle
- Transfer the parchment and pastry to your sheet pan before you fill it. This will ensure it doesn't bread during transfer. Brush off any extra flour if there is any.
- In a small bowl combine the 4 oz cream cheese, softened the ⅓ cup confectioners sugar and ½ tsp vanilla. Mix well
- Down the center of the pastry, top about a 3-4" line of the cream cheese mixture all the way from the top to the bottom of the pastry, leaving about 1 " on each end so you can close it later.
- On top of the cream cheese spread your apple pie filling evenly down the length as well, leaving the same amount of pastry.
- Carefully and evenly, make a number of diagonal slices onto both sides of the pastry at equal distances, all the way down the pastry, leaving an inch on the end (this is for braiding)
- Starting at the top and alternating sides, cross each strip of pastry over the filling, leaving as little filling showing as possible (like braiding) continue this all the way down, tucking in the top and bottom edges when you're done.
- whisk the egg and 1 tsp water to make an egg wash
- Brush the entire pastry with an egg wash to seal the edges and help the pastry brown.
- Sprinkle the top with the decorators sugar
- Bake at 400℉ for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown.
Notes
This apple strudel is made with my homemade apple pie filling. You can absolutely use store bought, canned pie filling if you prefer. The strudel recipe is a base for any fruit filling you have, just substitute your filling for the apple pie filling.