Snowy morning breakfast strudel made easy

This fruit strudel recipe is about the easiest breakfast treat or dinner dessert with a scoop of ice cream there is. Not much sugar and plenty of fruit wrapped in puff pastry from Pepperidge Farm. It reminds me of years ago when our daughter lived in California, we'd get this wonderful fresh strudel from a German bakery in Encinitas.

We awoke this second day of spring to snow here in southern Rhode Island, so I decided to start baking.

Strawberry/blueberry breakfast strudel

Thaw the frozen puff pastry for about an hour or so. Using a lightly floured pastry board, roll out the pastry to about the size of a cookie sheet that has a lip. 

Place the rolled pastry flat on the cookie sheet which has been covered with a sheet of parchment paper. 

For the first strudel, I peeled two apples and cut them in quarter inch slices and arranged them in a vertical line down the middle of the pastry. Sprinkle the apples with a little cane sugar, add a few raisins on top with about a quarter cup of chopped pecans. Then dust with nutmeg and cinnamon and about a tablespoon of light brown sugar. Then dot with a tablespoon of butter cut into cubes.

Fold the pastry sides over the fruit, secure ends with a little fork indention, and finish with a few fork vent holes. With a pastry brush, paint with an egg wash (one egg and a tablespoon of cream whisked) and sprinkle the finished strudel with some turbino sugar. 

Bake in a 410° oven on a middle rack for about 22-24 minutes. Let cool before cutting into slices.

For the second strudel I used the leftover fruit, strawberries and blueberries, I had used in the whole wheat berry muffins a few days ago. I cut the strawberries in half and placed them face down on the pastry then added the blueberries with the sugar and spices as I had in the first strudel.  Mix a 2 tblsps of orange juice, one tblsp of cornstarch and one tblsp of cane sugar and paint the top of the arranged fruit.  Fold the pastry and secure as before with the egg wash. Dust with turbino sugar if desired, or use confectioner's sugar after the strudel has been baked.

Braeburn apple, raisin and pecan strudel dessert

We were blest with less snow than was forecast, only a few inches, which capped the daffodils only briefly and disappeared quickly. But before the late morning melt, there were beautiful patterns made by the spring snow.