I have been making apple strudels for years this way, and we love them. Just the right amount of sweetness, hint of vanilla, and cinnamon. Really a great dessert combination. I usually use Golden delicious and Granny Smith apples in equal quantities, but you can use any apple you like to eat. If you like your strudels really sweet, feel free to increase the amount of sugar, but don't overdo it, because a lot of sweetness comes from apples. Make sure you wait for about 20-30 minutes to cut the strudels and serve, because they need to cool down a bit and firm up.
Ingredients
1 kilogram apples (peeled and grated)
12 sheets phyllo pastry (about 500 grams)
4 tablespoons brown sugar
4 tablespoons semolina
½ teaspoon powdered vanilla
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
100 ml vegetable oil
100 ml carbonated water
Preparation
Peel and grate the apples coarsely, then set them in a strainer to remove some of the liquid. You do not have to press them; just let them drain a bit. In a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, semolina, vanilla, and cinnamon, and set it aside. Take another bowl and whisk together the vegetable oil and carbonated water; this will be needed for brushing the pastry sheets. Divide the phyllo pastry in three parts with four sheets in each part.
Lay one sheet flat on the work surface, brush it generously with the liquid mixture you made earlier, then lay another sheet on top. Repeat that once more, then place the last sheet on the top and sprinkle on the grated apples. Make sure they are evenly distributed on the whole phyllo sheet. Take a third of the dry semolina mixture and sprinkle it on the apples. This will absorb any moisture the apples release during the baking.
Fold the outer inch or so of the phyllo dough in, to keep the filling in, then roll it up in a tight roll. Repeat this with the other two parts of the phyllo and arrange them on a large baking sheet, lined with baking paper. Since you will have a bit of liquid mix leftover, brush that on the rolls and bake them immediately in a preheated oven, at 200˚C (400˚F) for about 20 minutes. Once they are baked, remove them from the oven, and let them cool down on the baking sheet for about 30 minutes, then cut them up and serve. Yields 12 servings.
