Homemade Apple Toaster Strudel

I love baking, there is really something to getting up early on a Saturday or Sunday morning and preparing something delightful for my family that brings me joy. Since I've been recovering from surgery I have been resting quite a bit and I've left the cooking to my mother. However, when I woke up this morning I felt motivated to do something that was fairly quick and very easy in the kitchen - make homemade toaster strudel. I choose to make apple because I had already purchased all of the ingredients I needed at Walmart including some jennagold apples and thought the sweetness would be perfect. 

To prepare the filling, I peeled and cored the apples and chopped them up pretty well and then I sauteed them in a sauce pan with juice of one lemon, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. 

I let the filling rest and proceeded to prepare my crust. Since I didn't not have the energy to make my own dough from scratch, I used two pie crusts that I had in my freezer. Next time I will look for the pie crusts that are in sheets because that will save me even more time.

I rolled out the crusts into the basic shape of a rectangle and using my pizza cutter I made six rectangle shapes. I didn't get fancy and use a ruler but of course you can do that if you choose. I cut the crust into six pieces and laid them on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. 

I placed about 1 tablespoon of filling on each and topped with a crust. I crimped the edges with a fork and they were ready to go into my oven which I preheated to 425 degrees.

As the strudel cooked I made a light glaze with some powdered sugar, lemon and left over filling. After baking was done, I drizzled a little glaze over each pastry. I have to tell you that these were very good. I was experimenting so I didn't get the timing for baking exactly right but next time I'll heat the oven to 400 degrees and bake for about 8 minutes. I see baking as a symphony, all parts work together and if an instrument is out of tune or you miss a note, practice and try harder! So even though my strudel was more "toasty" on the edges than I'd like, I know what to do next time!

Apple Toaster Strudel

2 frozen pie crusts (or sheets of pie dough)

2 apples (I suggest a sweeter apple, I used Jennagold)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch of salt

juice from 1 lemon

3 tbsps brown sugar

Glaze
4 tbsps powdered sugar
2 tbsps almond milk (you can use whatever milk you like)
1 teaspoon apple filling
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Method:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Peel and core apples. Chop roughly. Place in pan on medium high heat, add lemon juice, cinnamon, salt, and sugar. Cook for approximately 7 minutes, until soft. Remove from heat and set aside.

Roll out 1 pie crust into a rectangle. Refine rectangle shape with pizza cutter and cut 6 rectangular shapes. Transfer to parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Place approximately 1 teaspoon of filling in the middle of each rectangle leaving 1/4 inch edge. Roll out additional pie crust and repeat process of cutting, place on top. Using a fork, crimp the edges of each pastry, place in oven and cook for approximately 8 minutes or until pastry is golden brown.

Make glaze by adding milk, lemon juice and filling to powdered sugar.

When pastry is done baking, remove from oven and let cool for five to ten minutes. After cooling, drizzle lightly with glaze and enjoy!

Disclosure: I am a participant in the Walmart mom program and was provided with compensation for completing this post. All opinions are my own.