Wake and Bake
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[Photograph: Carrie Vasios]

This easy but elegant golden strudel is ready for fall with a filling of apples, cranberries, and walnuts.

Notes: When making strudels, I like to use an apple coring machine like this one. They take all the work out of peeling apples and in a few cranks you have uniformly thin slices of fruit.

Make sure that your puff pastry is completely defrosted or it will be hard to roll to the desired size.

About This Recipe

Yield: serves 8
Active time: 20 minutes
Total time: 50 minutes
Special equipment: apple coring machine (see note), rolling pin, baking sheet

Ingredients

  • 1/2 of a 17.3 ounce package of Puff Pastry (we used Pepperidge Farm), thawed
  • 3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries
  • 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • 1 egg beaten lightly with 1 tablespoon water
  • Confectioners sugar for serving (optional)

Procedures

  1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar, cinnamon, and flour. Add cranberries and walnuts and stir to combine. Add apples and lemon juice and toss, stirring until the apples are well coated; set aside.

  3. Lightly flour a clean work surface and roll puff pastry out to a 16 by 12-inch rectangle. With the short side facing you, sprinkle 1/2 of pastry with apple mixture, leaving a 1-inch border at the end closest to you. Roll the pastry up, jelly roll-style, and crimp to seal edges. Transfer strudel to prepared baking sheet and brush top with egg wash. Cut three slits on top of the pastry to let steam escape. Bake until top is golden, about 35 minutes. Transfer baking sheet to a wire rack and let cool for 20 minutes. Dust with confectioners sugar before serving, if desired.