Apple Strudel with Caramel Sauce

There is a battle going on in my kitchen regarding the Strudel Theme Song.  One kid says that Mary Poppins sings about it in the thunderstorm and one kid says the Larry the Cucumber sings about it when he has the blues. I'm not even going to try to sort it out.  "Stop arguing and eat your strudel" definitely goes on the list of things I'd never thought I'd say.

This month's Daring Baker Challenge is Apple Strudel.  In addition to being pretty close to an adult version of play-dough, it was super easy to adapt to be dairy, egg and nut-free.  I really enjoyed it!  I can't wait for Michigan cherry season to make a cherry strudel! 

 The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

Making the Strudel

 Apple Strudel

from "Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafes of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague" by Rick Rodgers

Strudel Dough

1 1/3 cups unbleached flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

7 Tablespoons water

2 Tablespoons oil

1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

1.) Combine flour and salt in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup.  Add the water and oil mixture to the mixer on low speed.  Once the dough forms, switch to the dough hook and knead for 5-7 minutes and a soft ball forms. 

2.) Shape the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and let rest for 30-90 minutes.  Your life will be easier if you relax and wait 90 minutes.  Make the filling while the dough rests.

Apple Filling

2 pounds tart cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4 inch slices.

1-2 Tablespoons brandy or golden rum (optional)

3 Tablespoons golden raisins, (chopped if you're trying to hide them from your kids)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 Tablespoon flour

A few pinches of salt

1 1/2 cups fresh breadcrumbs ( I used Real Lovin' Breadcrumbs)

3 T. dairy-free margarine (I used Fleischmann's Unsalted Margarine)

1.) Mix the top set of apple ingredients together in a large bowl, then set to work on the breadcrumbs.

2.) Melt the butter in a skillet and add the breadcrumbs.  Cook over medium high heat for 3 minutes or so, or until the bread starts smelling toasted.  Set crumbs aside. 

Making the Strudel

1.) Preheat oven to 375. 

2.) Find a nice big table that you can walk around and cover it with a clean, lightweight cotton tablecloth.  Sprinkle the tablecloth  generously with flour.

3.) Slowly and gently pull the dough into a big rectangle.  When it starts getting too big to handle, set it on the tablecloth and keep stretching.  If the dough starts to fight back, walk away and give it time.  Through a combination of pulling and rolling with a pin, you should eventually have a tissue-paper thin dough that is about 2 feet by 3 feet.  Trim the edges (they will be a bit thick).

4.) Melt another 4 Tablespoons of margarine and spread it over the dough.  A pastry brush was too rough on the thin dough, so I ended out covering my palms with margarine and patting the dough all over.

5.) Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the dough.

6.) Dump the apple filling about 4 inches from the short end of the rectangle and shape it.

7.) Now the rolling begins! Start by pulling the first edge over top of the filling and then using the tablecloth, carefully roll the whole thing up!  Seal the edges, brush the top with margarine and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.

8.) Bake for 40 minutes, let cool for 30 minutes before cutting. 

Dairy-Free Caramel Sauce

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/3 cup water

1 cup plain soy creamer

1.) Heat the sugar and water in a heavy saucepan to a slow boil without stirring. Wash down any sugar crystals that form on the side of the pan with a pastry brush and water. Heat until the sugar forms a golden brown color, swirling around the pan occasionally. 

2.) Remove from heat and dump in the soy creamer.  Watch out, it will sputter and spurt.

3.) Return to heat, mixing well to dissolve all the lumps.  Let it come to a full rolling boil and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.  Cool to room temp before serving. 

I'll let you determine your own Strudel Theme Song.

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A Hot Fudge Education

Summer is almost upon us and even though ice cream is a year-round (almost daily) thing for us...summer is a perfect excuse to eat more! I was a bit appalled at my parenting lapse when neither of my girls had any idea what a "hot fudge sundae" could possibly be. Well, I fixed that today...and my house smells so good!

There are three different recipes for dairy-free chocolate sauce here, depending on your chocolate tastes and what you have in your pantry. The first is a chocolate syrup, nearly identical to Hershey's syrup, and much cheaper than $6 Ahlaska Chocolate Syrup. It is perfect for mixing with soymilk or rice milk to make your own chocolate milk and it lasts for quite a while in the fridge. The second is thick, dark and glossy. It reminds me of Sander's Fudge Topping, and this was the girls' favorite. The third is an adaptation of my mom's hot fudge recipe, substituting coconut milk for the evaporated milk. This is more of a "milk chocolate" sauce and is thinner than the second recipe. This was the favorite of the adults in the house, but we've also had gallons of my mom's hot fudge over Schwann's Peppermint Stick ice cream through the years...I guess we're a bit set in our hot fudge ways.

Oh, the "ice cream" is SoDelicious and the whipped cream is Rich's Whip in my new cream whipper!

Dairy-Free Chocolate Syrup (like Hershey's Syrup)

adapted from the Hillbilly Housewife

1/2 cup dairy and nut-free cocoa powder ( I used Nestle)
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1.) Mix water, cocoa, sugar and salt in a 2 quart saucepan over high heat.
2.) Whisk until everything dissolves and then bring to a full boil, stirring occasionally.
3.) Reduce heat and boil for a full 3 minutes, make sure it doesn't boil over!
4.) Remove from heat and stir in the salt and vanilla.
5.) Allow to cool and then pour into a pint-sized canning jar, or an old cleaned-out Hershey's squeeze bottle. 

Store in the fridge for a month or two.

Dairy-Free Dark Chocolate Sauce

Adapted from epicurious, so it's their fault that you get every single measuring cup messy!

2/3 cup plain soymilk
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup dairy-free and nut-free cocoa powder ( I used Nestle)
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup dairy-free and nut-free chocolate chips (I used Divvies)
2 Tablespoons dairy-free margarine (This is probably optional, I used Fleischmann's Unsalted Margarine)

1.) Bring soymilk, corn syrup, sugar, cocoa, salt and half the chocolate chips to a boil in a 2 quart saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the chocolate is melted.
2.) Reduce heat and cook at a low boil, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.
3.) Remove from heat and stir in the remaining chocolate, vanilla and the margarine (if you are using it) until smooth.

Makes about 2 cups, keeps refrigerated for 1 week.

Dairy-Free Milk Chocolate Hot Fudge Sauce

Adapted from my mom

1 can coconut milk (14 ounce)
1/4 cup (make it heaping) dairy and nut-free cocoa powder (I used Nestle)
1 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt

1.) Bring everything to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat.

2.) Reduce heat and cook at a low boil for 5 minutes.

 Store refrigerated for 1 week.

 

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Losing my faith...

...In the American Academy of Pediatrics that is.  Am I the only one who thinks we (doctors) may have it all wrong?  I found my baby book, which my mother filled in faithfully in a way reserved for the first born child.  My first response when I read the feeding page was shock.  MOM!  You fed me cereal when I was 5 days old,  formula when I was a week old, egg at 4 months, ice cream at 6 months! Were you crazy!!  My mom just shrugged and said "that's what we were told to do...and there were a lot less food allergies back then."

  Up until a year ago,  the AAP feeding mantra went like this " Exclusively breastfeed for 6 months, then introduce solids slowly, continue nursing until a year, wait until then to introduce eggs and cow's milk, no nuts or fish until age 3."  Now, the AAP seems as confused as anyone else and retracting all the promises that delayed solids could prevent food allergy.  

The dark questions in my mind are, "Has all this advice on delaying solids actually caused the epidemic of food allergy we are now seeing? Has the advice for allergic kids to religiously avoid allergens led to the observation that this generation is outgrowing their food allergies later than previous generations? " 

Anecdotally, it makes sense to me.  The "good" parents who follow all the "feeding rules", end out with the rashy and allergic kids.  The parents who just wing it, feeding solids way early, little tastes of table food here and there...tend to do fine. The "good" parents faithfully avoid milk after a positive skin test shows their child's eczema is due to milk allergy... then much later, their previously non-anaphylactic kid anaphylaxes from an accidental exposure.  The "bad" parents get the same diagnosis for the same rashy kid, but don't fully remove milk from the diet.  The kid stays a bit rashy, but doesn't ever anaphylax with accidental exposures.   

For now, I keep repeating the AAP feeding mantra to the new parents...but with a lot less conviction. For now, when a RAST test on a rashy kid comes back positive, I recommend avoidance.  But I wish I could say "keep feeding the allergen and we'll just treat the eczema" , or better yet, I try to talk parents out of testing altogether so we can just treat the skin without stressing about the cause.   All the exciting research in food allergy seems to be focusing on prevention through early introduction of allergens or in the arena of tolerance through increased exposure. In the next few years, I would not be surprised to see my mom's feeding regimen vindicated by science.

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