Spiced Apple Nut Strudel

I inspired myself!

I wrote about a holiday strudel stand at a fictional Christkindl festival in Grace Haven, then realized I needed to try this... and what fun I had!

I keep nuts in old plastic raisin bins in the freezer. We get those little gray moths in the house sometimes, and I wasn't about to let them into my pecans and walnuts and baklava mix, so the big raisin/Raisinet/Chocolate covered peanut containers work great at keeping large bags fresh and bug free.

Of course someone has to take it on the chin and EAT THE RAISINETS FIRST! :)

I prefer my food to be bug free. Go figure!

I usually use Fillo/Phyllo dough for strudel, but I had a frozen package of Puff Pastry, so I thawed that... And Newsflash!!! We liked it so much better than Fillo dough.

And the nut mix was super easy to make using my food processor

Spiced Apple Nut Strudel

2 cups ground pecans or walnuts (I had more pecans, so I used them)
1 cup shredded or finely chopped apple (I used four smallish apples. 2 big ones would be more than enough.)

1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon (more to taste, if desired)
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Hello, MacKenzie!!!

Mix all of that together.

Have 1/4 cup melted butter handy and cinnamon sugar like you'd mix for toast... Or mix 3 tablespoons of sugar with 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and you're good to go for sprinkling on top if you don't keep a bowl of cinnamon sugar in the cupboard like I do...

Butter a cookie sheet.

Lay puff pastries out. They're in a "tri-fold" shape so you'll put the filling on the middle third and fold the outside thirds over the filling.

Spoon a thick, wide ribbon of filling across the pastry. (There was enough to make three strudels, and I only had two puff pastries so I used the other filling for nut tarts with leftover pie crust... Although if I didn't have pie crust, I could have made cookie crust in muffin tins. And we kind of just ate the rest and it was amazing!)

Fold sides up and over the filling, overlapping them. Brush generously with melted butter. Sprinkle liberally with cinnamon sugar. Make diagonal slits in top from one side to the other.


Bake at 400° for about 20 minutes, until top is puffed and golden brown.  When cooled for ten minutes or so, drizzle vanilla glaze over top. (The strudels had "spread" apart a little so all I had to do was kind of pinch them back together while warm... and then a delicious glaze hides all kinds of stuff!

Vanilla glaze:

2 Tbsp. soft butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Add enough milk (not much!!!) to mix with whisk.... Drizzle over strudel.

Isn't that beautiful? And it melts in your mouth, stuffed with nutty/apple-y goodness. So delicious, and I bet it would freeze well, but honestly, it didn't take much time to make this with the food processor and the puff pastry dough.

It disappeared (there were two, and they were gone in less than a day.) and everyone loved it. I think with a recipe like this you could add raisins, but I know my crew isn't overly fond of raisins (the weirdos!) so the nuts/apples/cinnamon worked just fine.

This is crazy fun/busy time on the farm. Dave and Seth have brought up hundreds and hundreds of squash and even more pumpkins... and the customers are finding us, so that's even more fun!

Blue pumpkins... And then more blue pumpkins!

And company for coffee... actually I think he's guarding my new mug from my friend Debby Giusti! Isn't it beautiful? She knows I love Polish pottery.... How sweet is this?

And what farm would be complete without mud??? 

And that's it from the farm this week...We're awash in pumpkins, cute kids, veggies and blessings! Not a bad life at all! And we've dismantled our Seeker novella collections so the gals can put out their own stories individually, and here are two of my sweet historicals:

His Beloved Bride (Link to Amazon, of course!)

And this one is the first of my "Sewing Sisters Society" stories with Hattie McGillicuddy, one of my favorite characters!

The Pastor Takes a Wife (Also linked to Amazon for Kindle!)

And that's it from upstate! Our kids went back to school yesterday, September 7, and I think we're all ready for schedules and normal... and come next June, we'll be ready for the beautiful break we call summer!

Remember you can friend me on facebook as Ruth Logan Herne, spin by my website or visit me today over in SEEKERVILLE, our multi-author blog about love, romance, God and dealing with everything life hands us. See you... wherever!

Apple Strudel, A Ruthy Favorite!

Well, Ruthy found herself down with the stomach bug this week, so we're re-posting a wonderfully easy and impress-your-friends type recipe for today.... While Ruthy recovers! 

And when she recovers fully, she's going to make one of these delicious strudels and possibly eat the whole thing. 

So there! :)

Good morning, friends!

I've got my days of the weeks a little confounded here, and almost forgot this was Thursday... and yet, it is!

I've been practicing making strudels (A rolled pastry filled with sweet or savory filling that came to us from Austria and other European countries) using puff pastry. A purist would say that phyllo (fillo) dough is more authentic for strudel, and while that might be true, we like the puff pastry results better. The puff pastry holds together better while using less butter, and it's moister than Fillo dough....

I still use Fillo dough for baklava, but for strudels, I buy the Puff Pastry when it's on sale and keep a few boxes in the freezer. They thaw quickly and I can take a sheet of the dough (two sheets per pack) lay it out, thin it with a few swipes of the rolling pin and lay it on a buttered cookie sheet, ready to fill. Fillings can be store-bought (Poppy seed, lemon, fruit pie filling) but I like to make my own when time allows.

For Christmas I made the apple nut strudel I posted in September RECIPE HERE  but I wanted to try a fruit filling, too. I had a bin of apples that needed some love so I grabbed two large Crispins, peeled and cored them, then diced them. I put them into a smallish saucepan, added 1/4 cup water, covered them and steamed them on medium heat until soft.

While they're steaming (it only takes a few minutes once they get hot) I mixed 1/4 cup flour with 3/4 cup sugar.   Add in 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg.  Mix dry ingredients together. 

Stir into hot, softened apples. 

Add 1 tablespoon butter.

If mix is too thick, add a splash of water (probably another 1/4 cup)

Turn down heat and stir gently. Mixture should form a thick apple pie filling, and it takes less than ten minutes to make it.

Spread a thick layer of filling over the middle third of your thinned puff pastry on the cookie sheet. Fold one side up and over. Repeat with second side. Score the top by making half a dozen diagonal slashes with sharp knife so steam escapes.

Brush with two tablespoons melted butter. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. (Mix one tablespoon of sugar with 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon to make cinnamon sugar).

Bake at 400° for about 15-20 minutes. Pastry is done when it puffs up, turns golden brown and appears "dry". Remove from oven and let sit, then drizzle with glaze below:

Vanilla glaze:

2 Tbsp. soft butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Add enough milk (not much!!!) to mix with whisk.... Drizzle over strudel.

And this is what they look like with drizzled glaze on a Christmas platter! Needless to say they were enjoyed by all!

Total prep time for this is about twenty minutes (and that made two strudels) including peeling and chopping apples and thinning the pastry dough by rolling it into a bigger rectangle.

I did notice the apple filling made the puff pastry "spread" a little more. The dryer nut filling kept a classic rectangle shape... but the apple pie filling spread into a more oblong shape. But it was filled with delicious apple-y goodness, so we didn't care!

(I removed all the fun Christmas pics from this post because it's OCTOBER now... but gosh, this is good any time of year, my friends!)

When Ruthy is NOT SICK, she's writing amazingly delightful stories from her ivory tower in Western New York... that looks like a pumpkin farm! (NO KIDDING!!!) Find her and friend her on facebook, visit her website and hang out with her on Twitter @ruthloganherne... she loves to play and pray with new friends!

Apple Strudel with Puff Pastry

Good morning, friends!

I've got my days of the weeks a little confounded here, and almost forgot this was Thursday... and yet, it is!

I've been practicing making strudels (A rolled pastry filled with sweet or savory filling that came to us from Austria and other European countries) using puff pastry. A purist would say that phyllo (fillo) dough is more authentic for strudel, and while that might be true, we like the puff pastry results better. The puff pastry holds together better while using less butter, and it's moister than Fillo dough....

I still use Fillo dough for baklava, but for strudels, I buy the Puff Pastry when it's on sale and keep a few boxes in the freezer. They thaw quickly and I can take a sheet of the dough (two sheets per pack) lay it out, thin it with a few swipes of the rolling pin and lay it on a buttered cookie sheet, ready to fill. Fillings can be store-bought (Poppy seed, lemon, fruit pie filling) but I like to make my own when time allows.

For Christmas I made the apple nut strudel I posted in September RECIPE HERE  but I wanted to try a fruit filling, too. I had a bin of apples that needed some love so I grabbed two large Crispins, peeled and cored them, then diced them. I put them into a smallish saucepan, added 1/4 cup water, covered them and steamed them on medium heat until soft.

While they're steaming (it only takes a few minutes once they get hot) I mixed 1/4 cup flour with 3/4 cup sugar.   Add in 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg.  Mix dry ingredients together. 

Stir into hot, softened apples. 

Add 1 tablespoon butter.

If mix is too thick, add a splash of water (probably another 1/4 cup)

Turn down heat and stir gently. Mixture should form a thick apple pie filling, and it takes less than ten minutes to make it.

Spread a thick layer of filling over the middle third of your thinned puff pastry on the cookie sheet. Fold one side up and over. Repeat with second side. Score the top by making half a dozen diagonal slashes with sharp knife so steam escapes.

Brush with two tablespoons melted butter. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. (Mix one tablespoon of sugar with 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon to make cinnamon sugar).

Bake at 400° for about 15-20 minutes. Pastry is done when it puffs up, turns golden brown and appears "dry". Remove from oven and let sit, then drizzle with glaze below:

Vanilla glaze:

2 Tbsp. soft butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Add enough milk (not much!!!) to mix with whisk.... Drizzle over strudel.

And this is what they look like with drizzled glaze on a Christmas platter! Needless to say they were enjoyed by all!

Total prep time for this is about twenty minutes (and that made two strudels) including peeling and chopping apples and thinning the pastry dough by rolling it into a bigger rectangle.

I did notice the apple filling made the puff pastry "spread" a little more. The dryer nut filling kept a classic rectangle shape... but the apple pie filling spread into a more oblong shape. But it was filled with delicious apple-y goodness, so we didn't care!

And Mary and Joseph made it to the stable as hoped and planned! And she brought forth her first-born child and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them at the inn....  and you can see from the bits of yarn, our manger is soft and warm to welcome the baby!  During Advent, kids get awarded a piece of yarn for going out of their way to do something nice and kind and good... The more yarn you see, the nicer the little ones have been! Their good deeds "warm" the manger for Jesus. :)

Wishing you the best possible New Year's weekend... I treat myself on New Year's to a quiet weekend of writing and hosting the Seekerville Rockin' It New Year's Eve party over on our Seekerville blog. The party starts at 6:00 AM on 12/31 and goes ALL DAY until midnight Pacific time! 

Hourly prizes, fun conversations and giveaways, and virtual food, dancing and fireworks!!! :)

It's a great place to hang out if you don't have a hot date for New Year's!

Party Sized Scalloped Potatoes

Well, I made way too many!

I don't know what I was thinking, but I filled the monster big roasting pan about half-way full of scalloped potatoes... with cheese.... for about 12 adults.

And it wasn't like the only thing we were eating on Easter Sunday, either.

Oh my stars, it was a lot of potatoes, but you know what? Scalloped potatoes are one of those dishes folks around here like to warm up the day after.... and kind of like Thanksgiving turkey, the day after that, too!

So here's the monster sized recipe and feel free to cut in half... or quarters.... Or just buy one of those funny boxes of dried potatoes. :)

Au Gratin Scalloped Potatoes

7 lbs. potatoes, peeled, washed and sliced thin (This is where I love my Cuisinart food processor!)

1 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
6-8 cups milk (I used 7, I like my casserole a little moister.)
1 onion chopped small
1 1/2 lbs. ham or cooked pork, chopped
2 Tablespoons granulated garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 lb. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Melt butter in large saucepan or Dutch oven. Whisk in flour. Add milk, onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Heat over medium heat until mixture almost boils and thickens. Add cheese.

 Let cheese melt. Remove from heat.

Spray bottom and sides of large roasting pan. Pour enough cheese sauce to cover bottom. Layer about a 1/3 inch of potatoes over sauce. Sprinkle with ham.

Repeat until all potatoes and sauce are used up. Cover tightly and bake at 400 degrees for about two hours... or at a lower temperature for a longer time. Now that sounds funny, but I slow-baked them at 275 for about 3 hours (pretending they were in a slow cooker), then 400 degrees for the last hour and they came out great.

And then of course it was busy and Easter and I forgot to take a final picture!  But it was delicious and crowd-pleasing.....

And we had a great Easter egg hunt.... and wonderful desserts.... triple berry cheesecake and coconut cake (1/2 chocolate, 1/2 white, I think I'll call it "DIVERSITY" Cake! :) and apple nut strudel....

The links to those recipes are right there for you!

And we had cupcakes for the littles, decorated by MacKenzie!

Aren't they adorable? Lambs and bunnies!!!!

And Logan wanted you to know that he kept busy, too... building cool transforming creatures out of Legos:

And we're making bathroom progress! Yay! Tub #4 was the lucky tub!!!!

It's in and tiling is being done and the floor is poured.... over the heated wire.... and then the floor goes in tomorrow!

Oh, happy days!!!!!

That's the original corner beam of the house, we're leaving it exposed for interest' sake....

And a wall, almost ready for painting and wainscoting....

The first tile and a soap box..... Sweet!!!!

We're getting there. And we're so excited.

So that's it from the farm. Crazy windy today, power outages, downed trees, but we got to celebrate a 10 year old grandson's birthday.... and have cake.... and welcome six brand new baby kitties to the farm on Holy Saturday... more on them later!

Have a cuppa on the house... and so glad you could stop by!

Ruth Logan Herne is living her dream of writing sweet, memorable stories that grab heart... and soul. Follow her on Twitter, friend her on facebook, or just stop by here and chat any old time... these authors love what they do, and they love sharing what they know! No matter what part of the country they come from!

Surviving the Christmas Season

I assume you survived Brown Thursday aka Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and are prepared for today, Small Business Saturday. So we are going to talk surviving the Christmas Shopping, opps, I mean Christmas cooking, baking, eating season.

Of all the holidays to navigate for folks who are on diets, have allergies or are gluten sensitive, Christmas seems the most designed to break hearts and resolve.

That would be me on my fire engine and the special elf from my childhood before elves were used to prompt good behavior. 

I loved Christmas growing up. Such a season of anticipation of goodies. A huge box of Christmas cookies and candy came every year from my Nanny. It was stored in the cold garage until my mother's HUGE open house around mid-December. So, so, so hard to keep from sneaking out and sampling. There was peanut butter roll, chocolate fudge, peanut butter fudge,  coconut kisses, fruit cake cookies, date nut cookies and a huge fruit cake. I know I am forgetting something but those were my favorites.

I will be sharing some of my adaptive recipes in the coming weeks but wanted to share, as baking and making season starts some tricks I've learned to make some of the old recipes a little healthier or non-allergenic!

For pulled candy recipes: Instead of corn syrup use cane syrup or Lyles Golden Syrup. It can be found on Amazon and at speciality grocery stores.  Note: I don't use brown rice syrups any more due to the reports about high levels of arsenic in the processing.

For fudge and other recipes that use confectioners sugar: I have gone corn-free. Even if you don't have allergies, reducing the corn in your diet is a good thing. Most organic confectioners' sugars use tapioca. You can also pulverize granulated sugar and starch in your processor.  Add two tablespoons of tapioca or arrowroot starch per cup of sugar and grind to a fine powder.

For breads like pumpkin or banana: Substitute Pamela's baking mix for flour and leavening. 

Search the web for adapted recipes. No, it's not your favorite Aunt's strudel but you may find something that evokes the memories, if not the actual cookie, candy or other holiday favorite.  

More and more traditions are going organic. Trujoy candy canes are the only organic candy canes out there.

Focus on the scents of Christmas, not the calories: Can't eat Hershey's candy cane or chocolate mint kisses? Find a mint chocolate coffee or tea.

Reward yourself for staying on your diet or within your restrictions.  As I navigate through meals and parties, I am going to reward myself for staying away from things that aren't good for me by getting a kindle novella or book I really want. Ruthyand Virginia have books I am allowing myself to read because I made it through Thanksgiving. Click on their names to reward yourself.

So, what special treat do you make during the holidays? Any you have had to adapt?