Caramel apple strudel, made of rich buttery layers of flaky puff pastry wrapped around warm spiced apples and salty caramel, drizzled with vanilla glaze.
The night before, remove 1 sheet of the puff pastry dough from the freezer and place it in the refrigerator to defrost overnight.
In a large saucepan, combine the apples, apple juice, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Bring the apples to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, leaving the pot uncovered. Stir the apples occasionally and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes or until the apples are tender, but are not mushy. Take the apples off the heat and allow them to cool completely; about an hour and a half.
When the apples have cooled, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Unfold the puff pastry onto a large sheet of parchment paper, dusted with flour. Using a rolling pin, dusted with flour, roll the puff pastry dough into a rectangle approximately 16-inches x 12-inches. It doesn’t have to be perfect, or exact. Just make sure it is a rectangle shape.
Carefully, transfer paper with the pastry dough onto a large baking sheet, with the short side of the rectangle facing you.
Using a slotted spoon, add the apples onto the pastry dough, leaving a 1-inch border all the way around.
Drizzle the apples with the caramel sauce.
Starting with the bottom side facing you, roll up the dough and caramel drizzled apples jelly-roll style. Pinch the seam to seal, and tuck ends underneath.
Make an egg wash. In a small bowl, whisk the egg and water together. Brush the egg washover the pastry. Cut diagonal slits in the top of the pastry dough.
Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool.
When the strudel is cool, slice the strudel into 6 pieces. Combine the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla extract in a small bowl. Whisk until smooth. Drizzle the vanilla glaze over the strudel.
Serve and enjoy!
Notes
The Puff Pastry: Puff pastry dough comes frozen (I use Pepperidge Farm). So keep in mind you will need to allow time for it to thaw out. I took the puff pastry sheet out of the freezer and put it into the refrigerator to defrost overnight the night before.However, you can usually thaw puff pastry on the kitchen counter at room temperature for about 20 minutes or so. After that, you should be good to go.The Caramel Sauce: With each bite of this apple strudel, you get pops of the buttery rich and velvety caramel sauce. The decadent robust flavor has a slight smokiness and a hint of salt that sets this strudel recipe apart from any other apple strudel recipe.Of course, you can opt for store-bought caramel sauce, but I do not recommend it. Store-bought caramel sauce will not have the same effect.You can get the recipe and learn how to make caramel sauce HERE.You only need ¼ cup of caramel sauce for this recipe, so don’t forget to read about the other uses for the caramel sauce.The Apples: Any variety of apple will do when making this recipe. However, this is a sweet dessert, so tart apple such as Granny Smith will offer a nice contrast to break up some of the sweetness.Learn more about Egg Wash!Recipe adapted from Taste of Home Magazine
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