Apple Strudel from Austria

Apple strudel is a delicious dessert which is very easy to make if you are prepared to cheat a bit.  While you can make your own pastry, I go the easy route and use shop-bought puff pastry.  However, I do use fresh apples instead of canned ones.  You can make one large strudel or several small ones.  While many countries in Central and Eastern Europe have the strudel as their main dessert, it supposedly originated in Vienna in Austria.

1 packet frozen puff pastry
4-5 apples peeled and sliced
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 cup raisins
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
icing sugar for dusting (optional)
Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius.  Grease a baking pan.  Lay out the puff pastry sheet on the baking pan.  Place the apple slices down the centre of the puff pastry sheet.  Sprinkle the lemon juice, cinnamon and ginger over the apple slices.  Cover the apples with the raisins.  Fold the two sides over the apple mixture and turn the roll over so that the fold is on the underside.  Cut slits in the side facing up.  Alternatively you can cut the slits on the side pieces and fold it over in a criss-cross pattern.  Mix the milk with the egg and use this as an egg wash on the pastry.  Bake in the middle part of the oven for 20-30 minutes, until the strudel is golden brown.
Let it cool and then dust the top with icing sugar.  Serve with cream or vanilla ice-cream.
Cindy Vine is a South African currently living and working in Ukraine.  She is the author of The Colorful Art of Pain, The Great Mountain to Mountain Safari and several novels.  All her books are available on Amazon in both Kindle and print format.