Christmas pudding, apple and cranberry strudel recipe

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Fruit Pie - Haarala Hamilton

Fruit Pie – Haarala Hamilton

You can put any sweet Christmas stuff hanging around in it – thick cranberry sauce, small pieces of marzipan, Christmas pudding or crumbled Christmas cake pieces. Nuts too (walnuts, hazelnuts and pecans are best).

If you can find JR Feuilles de Filo, use it – it’s much better than other commonly available brands.

timings

Preparation time: 30 minutes plus cool down time
Cooking time: 50 minutes

serves

Eight

Ingredients

  • 50 g dried cranberries

  • 2 tablespoons port wine or whatever sweet alcohol you have on hand

  • 600g Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into very thin slices

  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)

  • 40g soft light brown sugar

  • Finely grated rind of ½ lemon

  • 150 g Christmas pudding, cut into pieces

  • 45 g marzipan, cut into small nuggets (optional – may not be increased)

  • 250g phyllo dough

  • 55 g butter, melted

  • powdered sugar for sprinkling

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 190C/180C fan/gas mark 6.

  2. Put the cranberries in a small saucepan with the alcohol. Put it on high heat and as soon as you see the liquid foaming, remove from the heat, mix and leave the cranberries to swell for 30 minutes.

  3. Place the apple slices in a large bowl with the cinnamon, sugar if using, and lemon zest and mix. Add the Christmas pudding pieces, marzipan pieces, and cranberries.

  4. Spread a layer of dough, roughly 38cm x 44cm (depending on the size, you may need to overlap the two sheets) on a clean tea towel, with the long edge close to you. Brush with melted butter and add another sheet (or two).

  5. Grease the pastry and continue layering and buttering until you have consumed all the pastries. Spoon the filling onto the dough in the shape of a sausage, about 5 cm from the longest edge closest to you. Try to distribute the marzipan pieces evenly and leave a few centimeters of space on each short side so you can seal the filling.

  6. Using the tea towel to assist you, wrap the pie around the filling like a Swiss roll. Twist the ends at the bottom to close the strudel. Lift the tea towel with the strudel out of your oven onto a large baking tray or one of the metal trays.

  7. Carefully push the strudel from the kitchen cloth onto the tray and finish with the dough seam at the bottom. It may look messy, but it always looks good once it’s baked and sifted with powdered sugar, so don’t worry.

  8. Brush the strudel with remaining butter and bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool to room temperature. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

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