My grandma's recipe for the perfect apple strudel! It's a delicious, tart pastry that makes a stellar dessert along with a dollop of ice cream. And it's super easy to make!
By Candice Walker on October 22, 2021 (Last updated September 24, 2023) This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
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My grandma’s recipe for perfect phyllo apple strudel is a sure winner! It’s a delicious, tart pastry that makes a stellar dessert with a huge dollop of vanilla date ice cream. Plus, it’s super easy to make with pre-made phyllo dough and a few simple ingredients.
🍴Strudel or streusel?
A strudel is a traditional Viennese pastry, often served for dessert. It features thin pastry sheets wrapped around a fruit filling like apple, cherry, or apricot. it makes for a delicious and easy phyllo dough dessert recipe.
While easy to confuse due to their similar names, strudel and streusel are different desserts. A strudel has thin sheets of pastry wrapped around the filling, while streusel is a crumbly sweet topping of sugar, flour, and butter that is layered over pies and cakes.
🌟 Why Phyllo Apple Strudel Works So Well
Pre-made phyllo dough – This apple strudel is a winner because it uses pre-made phyllo dough, which is easy to find and even easier to work with. You can’t put a foot wrong! If you have pre-made puff pastry, try these Puff Pastry Flowers.
Homemade dessert in 1 hour – This dessert will impress your friends, family, or guests every time and is freshly prepared and baked in just one hour. You’ll also love this Persimmon Bread.
Simple ingredients – Simple ingredients come together to make a quick and easy apple strudel recipe that will always be a hit. Cinnamon, sugar, and apples were just meant to be together.
Perfect texture – Nothing beats the crisp and crackle of flaky layers of rich buttered pastry with sweet jam and apples coated with a cinnamon sugar topping!
🧾 Ingredients in This Recipe
Apples: I’ve made this recipe successfully with everything from Honeycrisp to Asian pears. For the best tart taste, I like to use Granny Smith apples or Braeburn apples. Their flavor marries really well with the sweet, flaky pastry and the cinnamon.
Phyllo dough: These are very thin sheets of pastry that you will find in the freezer section next to puff pastry. It’s almost impossible to make from scratch at home, so store-bought is the way to go.
Eggs: Used as a wash on top of the pastry to get that wonderful golden brown color. You can use butter or ghee instead of egg wash and the pastry will still be delicious, but not golden.
Apricot Jam: The jam is added to the apple filling, giving a special sweetness to every bite. For another delicious jam option, try this cardamom quince jam.
Sugar: I use brown sugar as it melts to give an irresistible sticky caramel flavor to the apples. You could use white sugar or Turbinado sugar in a pinch, but brown sugar will yield a better result.
Unsalted butter: You layer melted unsalted butter in between the phyllo dough sheets to create a crispy texture when baked.
Cinnamon: This goes in the filling along with the sugar. Cinnamon, sugar, and apples are a flavor match in heaven!
Lemon: Tossing the apples in lemon juice helps keep them from browning and the lemon flavor adds a great balance in flavor.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
👩🍳 How to Make Apple Strudel
Peel, core, and slice the apples into similar-sized slices before tossing apple slices in a bowl with the juice of half a lemon until all the slices are lightly coated.
Next, slowly melt the stick of butter. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350F.
Prepare your working surface by laying a clean towel over it. Take one sheet of your phyllo dough, lay it out on the towel, and brush the dough evenly all over with the melted butter.
Place another sheet of phyllo dough over your buttered first sheet, and likewise brush melted butter over that sheet. Repeat this process six times so that you have a stack of six phyllo dough sheets, each layered with melted butter, including the top.
Next, brush a quarter cup of apricot jam across the bottom four inches of your layered phyllo dough.
✨ Pro Tip
Cover your unused phyllo dough with a damp towel between uses so it doesn’t dry out.
Stack your apple slices neatly in one row across the bottom of the phyllo strudel dough, on top of the jam layer.
Top the apple filling layer with three tablespoons of brown sugar and one teaspoon of cinnamon.
Using the towel underneath the pastry, carefully roll from left to right to envelop the apple and cinnamon filling, and keep rolling until you have a closed parcel. Transfer the strudel parcel to your baking tray, seam side down.
With a sharp knife, cut slits across the top of the parcel about one inch apart. Brush the pastry with melted butter or an egg wash, whichever you prefer, to help brown in the oven. Mix one tablespoon of sugar with a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon and sprinkle the mixture on top.
✨ Pro Tip
The phyllo pastry browns better when brushed with egg wash, but butter is a great egg-free option. The phyllo pastry will not brown as much, but it will flake and crunch wonderfully.
Next, place the strudel in the oven and bake for thirty to thirty-five minutes until it is golden brown and flakey in texture. Cut as desired (I like to cut into ~3-inch pieces) and serve with a scoop of vanilla or vanilla date ice cream or whipped cream.
🥡 How to Store Apple Strudel
You can keep apple strudel in the fridge, but it doesn’t last as long or stay as tasty as when it’s freshly made. I prefer to keep apple strudel covered on the counter overnight if you are eating it the next day. If you plan to keep it longer than that, then refrigerate or freeze it.
If you’re making it in advance or in bulk, apple strudel can absolutely be frozen. It is best to freeze the strudel before you bake it. Assemble as you would normally, then cover and freeze the strudel before the final baking step. Wrap it in parchment paper and freeze it in an airtight container or bag. You can then bake when ready by defrosting overnight in the refrigerator or 45 minutes at room temperature and it’ll taste as if it’s been freshly made.
To reheat already baked strudel, place it on a baking sheet and pop it in the oven on low heat for around ten minutes. You’ll get a much better result than microwaving it. A toaster oven works great, too.
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My grandma's recipe for the perfect apple strudel! It's a delicious, tart pastry that makes a stellar dessert along with a dollop of ice cream. And it's super easy to make!
Peel, core, and slice the apples. Toss in a bowl with the juice of half a lemon.
Melt the stick of butter.
Preheat to 350F.
Prepare your surface with a clean towel. Take one sheet of phyllo dough, place it on the towel, and brush with melted butter. Cover the unused phyllo with a damp towel between use.
Top with another sheet of phyllo dough, and brush with melted butter. Repeat until you have 6 sheets stacked.
Add 1/4 cup of apricot jam to the bottom 4-inches of the phyllo dough. Stack the apple slices across the bottom of the phyllo dough on top of the jam.
Top with 3 tbsp brown sugar and 1 tsp of cinnamon.
Using the towel, roll the phyllo until you have a closed parcel. Transfer to your baking tray lined with parchment or a silicone baking mat seam side down.
Cut slits across the top ~1 inch apart. Brush with egg wash. Mix 1 tbsp sugar with 1/4 tsp cinnamon and sprinkle on top.
Bake 30-35 minutes until golden brown and flakey.
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Notes
To reheat already baked strudel, place it on a baking sheet and pop it in the oven on a low heat for around ten minutes.Cover your unused phyllo dough with a damp towel between uses so it doesn’t dry out.The pastry browns better when brushed with egg wash, but butter is a great egg-free option. The pastry will not brown as much, but it will flake and crunch wonderfully.I have tried making this recipe with more than 6 sheets and it does not work well. It becomes too thick for it to cook all the way through evenly.My preference is to add the filling to the long side of the rectangle. However, it works both ways.
Did you try this recipe?I’d love to hear what you think! Leave a Review to let us know how it came out, if you have a successful substitution or variation, or anything else.
