Apple and mincemeat strudel

Tweaking his recipe for apple strudel by substituting just under half the apple filling with fruit mince, Rick Stein creates a festive dessert that would be a lovely lighter alternative to Christmas pudding.

Rick Stein's apple and mincemeat strudel. Credit: Penguin Random House / James Murphy

• serves

  4-6

• prep

  25 hours

• cook

  45 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 550 g Bramley apples, peeled, cored, quartered and sliced
• 1½ tsp ground cinnamon
• Zest of ½ lemon
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 100 g caster sugar
• 95 g butter
• 45 g dried white/panko breadcrumbs
• 225 g mincemeat (fruit mince), homemade or shop-bought
• 6 large sheets of filo pastry (45 cm x 25 cm)
• 2 tbsp flaked almonds
• 1 tbsp icing sugar, for dusting

To serve

• Cream, ice-cream or custard

Instructions

1. Mix the apples with the cinnamon, lemon zest and juice and sugar.
2. Melt 20g of the butter in a small frying pan and fry the breadcrumbs until golden. Add them to the apples, then stir in the mincemeat.
3. Preheat the oven to 180°C/Fan 160°C. Line a baking sheet with baking paper.
4. Melt the rest of the butter in a pan. Place a clean tea towel on the worktop with the long edge towards you. Place a sheet of the filo on top and brush with some of the melted butter. Lay another sheet over it and brush with butter, then repeat until you have used all the filo.
5. Pile the filling on to the filo, leaving a border of about 3 cm all round. Tuck the ends of the filo in and then, using the tea towel to help, roll the pastry away from you to enclose all the filling.
6. Transfer the roll, seam-side down, to the lined baking sheet and brush with the rest of the melted butter. Bake for 40–45 minutes until golden. Meanwhile, toast the almonds in a dry pan until golden.
7. Allow the strudel to cool to room temperature, then dust with icing sugar and scatter over the toasted almonds. Slice and serve with cream, ice cream or custard.

This is an edited extract from Rick Stein’s Christmas (Penguin Random House, RRP $60).

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.