Austrian Marillenstrudel Apricotstrudel Food

MARILLENKNöDEL (AUSTRIAN APRICOT DUMPLINGS)

Steps:

• Add the soft butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt to a medium bowl and whisk until combined (or just stir with a spatula or a spoon).
• Add the egg and cheese, whisk until combined (lumps are fine).
• Add the flour and stir with a spatula/spoon until combined. Don't stir for too long. The dough should be slightly sticky. If the dough is very very sticky (this will depend on the kind of cheese you've used) you can add 1-2 teaspoons of flour, but remember it will be much easier to handle after it has rested in the fridge. The dough should not be too dry and not sticky.
• Scoop out the dough from the bowl onto a piece of plastic foil. Wrap the dough in plastic foil and form a round disk. Put in the fridge for 30 minutes (or longer, even overnight).
• While the dough is chilling, prepare the apricots and the breadcrumb topping.
• Cut the apricots in half and remove the stone.
• Place a cube of sugar in place of the stone, press the two apricot halves together until the apricot closes. Set aside.
• Melt the butter in a medium pan, when it's bubbling add the breadcrumbs.
• Cook over medium-low heat, stirring very frequently, until the breadcrumbs are golden brown in color (be careful, they can burn quickly).
• Take the pan off the heat and stir in the sugar and cinnamon.
• Take the dough out of the fridge, sprinkle it with flour and divide with a knife into 8 parts (if you have very large apricots, divide the dough into 6 parts).
• Place one part on sprinkled with flour surface, sprinkle it with flour on top. Apply some flour to your hand. Place one apricot in the middle of the dough and press the dough around the apricot, seal well. You should not be able to see the seam. Place the dumplings on a plate.
• Cook the dumplings in a large amount of salted water, abour 4 dumplings at a time. Throw them into boiling water and cook for about 12 minutes (from the moment you've put them in water). Reduce the heat to medium-low, the water should only simmer. After a couple of minutes, try to stir the dumpling carefully with a spoon as they tend to stick to the bottom of the pot sometimes.
• Take the cooked dumplings out of the water with a slotted spoon, drain well.
• Place the hot dumplings in the pan with breadcrumb topping. Roll the dumplings in the breadcrumbs until coated on all sides.
• Put the dumpling onto plates, sprinkle with icing sugar.
• Enjoy!

AUSTRIAN APRICOT DUMPLINGS: MARILLENKNODEL

Steps:

• Place the cheese in some cheesecloth or several layers of paper towels and let it drain for 5 to 10 minutes, pressing gently, to remove excess moisture.
• With a mixer, beat the cheese until smooth. Add the egg and continue to beat until incorporated. Sprinkle in the sugar and salt, and then gradually add the flour; continue to mix until a dough begins to form. Add the melted butter and mix just until the dough holds together when patted with your hands, it will look pretty wet. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for several hours or up to overnight, the dough will stiffen as it chills.
• Using a knife, make a slit down the seam of the apricot and carefully pull out the pit, keeping the fruit in tact. Stick a sugar cube inside the apricot where the pit was and squeeze the apricot back together to close it up tightly. The sugar cube melts inside the apricot when you cook it.
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Lightly flour a rolling pin and work surface. Roll the dough out into a thin circle and cut out 12 circles with a 4-inch ring cutter. Place an apricot in the center of the dough and carefully bring the edges together to completely enclose the fruit and form a dumpling; make sure there are not any tears or holes in the dough. Working in batches, gently lower the dumplings into the simmering water; they should not be touching or crowded. Cook for about 10 to 15 minutes; the dumplings will sink to the bottom of the pot and then rise to the surface. Carefully remove the dumplings from the water with a strainer.
• In a large nonstick skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the bread crumbs, sugar, and cinnamon, cook and stir for a couple of minutes until the bread crumbs are toasty and golden. Lay the bread crumbs out on a sheet pan or plate and roll the apricot dumplings in the browned crumbs to coat evenly.
• In a small bowl, mix the sour cream, brown sugar, and lemon juice together. Serve the apricot dumplings with the sweet-sour cream sauce on the side and a dusting of confectioners' sugar if desired.

ALTWIENER APFELSTRUDEL (TRADITIONAL VIENNESE APPLE STRUDEL)

Steps:

• To make the dough: Place the flour in a bowl with the salt and add the water, then the oil. Stir with a spoon until it comes together and you can work it with your hands. Knead the dough until it is smooth and tacky, but not sticky, about 5 minutes. If you need to add more flour, only add it 1 teaspoon at a time, and rework the dough after each flour addition (before adding more). Form the dough into a smooth ball, brush it with a little oil and place it back in the bowl for about 1 hour at room temperature. Covering the dough with plastic wrap is fine, too.
• To Make the First Filling: Heat the butter in a pan until foaming and add the breadcrumbs. Toast them, stirring constantly, until they are medium brown. Let cool.
• To Make the Second Filling: Heat the raisins for 30 seconds in microwave oven. Then soak raisins in rum (or orange juice); set aside until ready to use.
• Peel, core and chop the apples into small pieces. Add the sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, cinnamon and nutmeg. Place raisins in colander to allow excess liquid to drain. Add to apple mixture, and mix well.
• Roll out the dough on a lightly floured board to about 9 inches by 13 inches. Lightly flour a clean towel with no nap, place it over the dough, grab both (towel and dough) and flip over so towel is on bottom and dough is on top. Straighten both, as necessary. Using your hands, gently stretch the dough thinner on all sides, working your way around the sheet of dough. Stretch it until it starts to look translucent in spots. Let it rest a minute and stretch the areas you think are too thick, again. Brush dough with melted butter.
• Spread the first filling (toasted breadcrumbs) over 2/3 of the dough and pat down evenly. Spread second filling (apple/raisin mixture) over the other 1/3 of the dough. With kitchen shears, snip off any thick edges of dough, so dough is more uniform. Using the towel, fold one side of the dough over the filling. Brush exposed dough with melted butter. Fold in ends of dough like a burrito. Fold other side of dough up and over filling to form a loaf. Brush with butter.
• Use the towel to lift the strudel to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Gently roll strudel onto parchment paper so that the seam-side is down.
• Brush melted butter over the dough. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350° and bake for 40-60 minutes longer.
• Remove strudel from oven, brush with melted butter again, then sprinkle with powdered sugar while still warm. Transfer to a serving platter with a large spatula (or two). Cut into 1 1/2 inch wide slices with a bread knife or serrated knife. Serve with your choice of whipped cream, vanilla sauce, or vanilla ice cream.

AUSTRIAN MARILLENSTRUDEL - APRICOTSTRUDEL

Steps:

• Melt butter in a pan and add breadcrumbs, ground hazelnuts and sugar.
• Stir until mixture is lightly toasted and fragrant.
• Take from heat and add cinnamon and vanilla bean scrapings.Stir until evenly distributed.
• Place sheet of puff pastry on non stick paper and place on a baking tray.
• Brush sides of pastry with milk, this will help to stick the pastry sheets together later.
• Place apricot cubes on 2/3 of the pastry, leave sides free.
• Sprinkle bread crumb/nut/sugar mixture over apricots.
• Fold in pastry sides and start to roll dough into strudel-shape.
• Press seam of dough firmly together so the strudel is closed on all sides.
• Brush surface with milk and let strudel bake at 180°C for about 20 minutes until lightly brown.
• Sprinkle with powdered sugar and enjoy luke warm with whipped cream and/or vanilla ice cream -- .