Easy recipe for apple strudel

My friend Catt from With Love From Catt had a loverly idea for us to share a Valentine’s Day inspired recipe for a Feed My Valentine blog hop.

If you are joining me from Cherith at What Cheri Thinks , thank you most kindly.
I hope you enjoyed her Valentine’s Day inspired brunch ideas.

Today I am sharing super easy version of one of my favorite recipes, apple strudel.

Now you may be thinking, “Oh my, that sounds complicated!”

But I am going to let you in on a little secret.

You only need 5 ingredients!

Super easy like rice crispies

Do you remember the commercial with the mom pretending it was such hard work to make them?

My recipe for apple strudel is even easier than making rice crispie treats!

Here’s what you need:

• pre-made puff pastry [not pie crust]
• 1 can apple pie filling
• 1 lemon
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch [optional]
• caramel sauce
• heart shaped cookie cutters

Read the back of your pie filling.

You can see that this one has cinnamon and sugar added.

Of course, you can peel apples.

And cook them with cinnamon and sugar

Nah, let’s make a batch of adorable heart shaped apple strudels the EASY way!

add your apple pie filling to a medium sized bowl

sprinkle in a 1/2 teaspoon of cornstarch if you want a firmer sauce

add the zest of 1/2 a lemon

and a sprinkle of apple pie spice if you want a bit more flavor

gently fold together and set aside while you prep the puff pastry

Now, grab your puff pastry.

This is not pie crust, we want the flaky apple strudel layers for this recipe.

Oh, this gives me an idea!
I will share the recipe for petite pies with you, soon!

roll out your puff pastry on a cutting board

Use your heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out at least 12 hearts

Quick tip: when you are cutting out the hearts, wiggle the cookie cutter a little bit when you apply pressure to make sure you cut clean thru.

Make sure to cut an even number of hearts

because you will need 2 hearts per each strudel.

One cutout for the top and one for the bottom.

How easy was that?

Next, cut a couple lines on half of the hearts for vents

be careful not to cut end to end

Be careful to leave a bit of space around the edges so that we can assemble out heart shaped apple strudels.

Now, crack your egg and separate the egg white and egg yolk

Add a tablespoon of water to the egg yolk and gently mix to create an egg wash

Add a bit of filling to the bottom heart, be careful not to overfill.

Then, brush a bit of the egg wash around the perimeter of the bottom heart.

The egg wash acts as glue to hold the top and bottom together.

Now, gently place one of the hearts with the vents cut on top and carefully press down.

You can stretch the top a little bit to help it fit over the filling.

Tuck in any slippery apples toward the center.

Take a fork and press around the edges to secure the top and bottom together.

Once you have all your cute little heart shaped apple strudels assembled

place them on a silicone mat or parchment paper on a baking sheet

This helps keep the sugars from the filling from permanently gluing your gorgeous apple strudel to the cookie sheet.

Line you cookie sheets, trust me on this one.

Brush the egg wash on the tops of the hearts.

This will make them turn the most beautiful golden brown.

How easy was that?

Now pop your little beauties in the oven (according to your package directions)

and watch them puff up

ohhh, and the apples get all gooey

it smells soooo good

et voila, gorgeous little heart shaped apple strudel.

but we aren’t done, yet

We are going to kick these loverly little hearts up a notch.

Trader Joe’ – I mean Trader Jaques – makes the most divine caramel sauce.

You can make your own by following my home made honey caramel recipe

but I wanted this to be a quick easy recipe, so we are going to use the next best thing.

Pop the jar (lid off) in the microwave for about 15 to 20 seconds so it thins

Then use a spoon and eat the entire jar.

No, no, no, we can’t eat the entire jar.

OK, we shouldn’t, but I digress…

Take a spoon and drizzle the caramel on top of the heart shaped apple strudels

How adorable are these?

They are almost too cute to eat!

Almost!

Now dust some flour on your face and make it seem like you spent all day making these little heart shaped apple strudels.

Place them up on a pretty little antique plate to serve them to your loves.

And maybe drizzle a little more caramel on them.

I can’t wait for you to try them!

I hope you enjoyed my recipe for the Feed my Valenine Blog Hop.

For something sweet to accompany the easy recipe for apple strudel make sure to head over to see Jennifer at Hill City Bride

Jennifer is sharing her loverly recipe for a Love Potion cocktail

Make sure to visit all the recipes in the Feed My Valentine Blog Hop and let me know which one was your favorite!

a biento!

Juliet