fruit

festive strudel

servings
8 - 10

method

My mantra this year is not to waste any food at Christmas, and this pudding is a perfect example of how a simple packet of filo pastry can turn leftovers or unwanted gifts into a cracking new dessert. The pastry is a great vehicle to add crunch and, with the grated fruit and that surprise burst of chocolate at the heart of the strudel, no one will know that pudding is essentially made from leftovers.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. Lay out 6 sheets of pastry on a clean tea towel, overlapping each by an inch or so, so they cover the tea towel. They should cover it completely, with just a little overhang at one of the shorter ends. Work quickly so your pastry doesn’t dry out and brush some melted butter all over it. Sprinkle over the cinnamon and 50g of the sugar then crumble over your ginger nuts to add a nice bit of crunch. Carefully layer the rest of the pastry sheets on top and brush again with butter.

Use your hands to crumble the Christmas pudding into a bowl then grate in the fruit, cores and all. You want to have about the same amount of grated fruit as you’ve got pudding. Add about 2 tablespoons of sugar, and mix it all together to break up the pudding a bit more. Sprinkle this all over the pastry so it’s roughly covered, leaving the overhang clear. Place the chocolate in a row on top of the Xmas pud, down the short side nearest the overhang.

Fold the overhang over the chocolate and pinch it up, then lift up your tea towel, and use it to help you carefully roll up your strudel. Tuck the ends under to seal it and transfer to a large non-stick pan. Brush it all over with butter then sprinkle over a little more sugar. Bake in the hot oven for about 40 minutes until crisp, golden and gorgeous looking. It might split a bit and look slightly rustic, but I think that’s quite nice. You could wrap an extra layer of filo round it before cooking if you want it to look a bit neater. Once cooked, leave to cool then use a serrated knife to cut the strudel into 5cm slices. Dust these with icing sugar and serve with ready-made custard from the fridge.

ingredients

• 12 sheets of filo pastry (approx• 250g)
125g butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 100g demerara sugar
• 4 ginger nuts
• 400g leftover Christmas pudding
• 3 apples or pears or 2 quince, or a mixture of the three
• 50g good-quality chocolate (70% cocoa solids), roughly chopped
• icing sugar, for dusting
• ready-made custard, to serve

share this page

daily recipe rss

new recipe rss

tried this recipe or a similar one? share your tips...

1. by Danuta on Sat 24 Dec 2011 @ 13:49

What a great recipe and it was huge I think I would have done better to squeeze out sone juice from the fruit as it was quite moist and heavy - Other wise perfect! Note to me - Next time remember to leave overlap on the sides to tuck under My version of fruit was 1 x Granny Smith Apple, 1 Packham Pear 1/2 Delicious Apple and a small slice of Quince paste which I used instead of the extra sugar. The Xmas pudding made all the difference. I added a dollop of quality custard (not pouring custard for presentation and it was a hit. Thanks Jamie Merry Xmas from Sydney Australia

2. by Kim Hogue on Tue 14 Dec 2010 @ 17:55

Love your show! Love your accent! Love your recipes, my family is sure to enjoy them for years to come and loved watching you cook with your mum and nephews this Christmas.

leave comments