Strudel for One

Presently unoccupied and without means of income, I have taken it upon myself to fill my days with reading blogs, reading books, watching Mad Men, trying new dinner recipes and coming up with reasons to blog (and occasionally applying for jobs).

Today's reason to blog: attempt to fatten-up skinny boyfriend.

As luck would have it, travelling had opposite affects on me and my beloved: while I stacked it on (my name's Fifi and I'm addicted to baklava), he lost it. Since settling down in Berlin, we are now trying to do the opposite once again: I'm trying to lose it, he's trying to stack it on.

One way of torturing myself/assisting Mr von Strudel in his weight gain attempts is to cook for him. Or rather, bake for him. Today's helpful assistance was to create that German/Austrian classic, and my namesake: Apfel Strudel.

One thing that needs to be said before I forge ahead and give you recipes is this: I am an intuitive baker/cook. This in turn annoys the bejeebus out of Mr von Strudel who is attempting to learn to cook some of my recipes. Recipes which actually don't exist. Recipes which change almost every time I cook them.

So, without further a-do, Fifi von Strudel's strudel (or more accurately Apfeltasche - apple pocket)

If you have oodles of time on your hands, you can make your own puff-pastry. I have oodles of time, but the thought of making my own pastry frightens me (kind of like creating a sour dough starter...it's ALIVE) so I used the pre-made, frozen stuff.

Zutaten/ingredients

1 sheet of puff pastry

1 granny smith apple, peeled, cored, chopped into 2cm cubes

squirt of lemon juice to keep apples from browning

1 tablespoon powdered sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 tablespoons water

Methode/Method

Pour water, sugar and cinnamon into a pot and bring to boil. Add apples and cook until water mixture nearly evaporated (5 minutes or so). Arrange apples on pastry and fold, pinching the edges to seal. Poke some holes to allow any extra steam to escape. Bake for 15 minutes.

Sift some powdered sugar over the top and eat. This one may need a couple of minutes to cool, or a sign that says 'Caution: contents hot'. Pour some custard/cream/ice cream over the top for extra fattening/deliciousness.

Personally, I felt this recipe could be improved – although I promise only tasted a tiny bit – by adding custard to the apple mixture.

Perhaps that can be tomorrow's task.

xoxo Fifi