Ingredients:

5 each Granny Smith or Pippin apples, peeled, cored and sliced
3 oz. butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup pecans, chopped
2 each puff pastry dough sheets, 8"x 12"
Egg wash (1 beaten egg with 1 oz. water)
as needed Confectioner’s sugar
For service sweetened whipped cream
For service vanilla sauce (recipe follows)
for service Chef Larry’s Raspberry Coulis (recipe follows)

Method:

In a large sauté pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add apples, sugars, dried cranberries and cinnamon. Saute briefly over medium heat mixing well. Remove apple mixture and cool. Sprinkle flour over mixture and toss. Reserve. Place puff pastry dough sheets on floured work surface. Brush with eggwash.

Portion apples lengthwise down the center of the dough sheets. Sprinkle generously with pecans. Fold over one side of the pastry to cover apples then fold over the other side to encase the mixture. Fold under edges to seal.

Carefully turn over filled pastry and place on baking sheet. Brush with egg wash and bake in preheated oven at 400 degrees F for 15 - 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly and dust with powdered sugar. For service slice with a serrated knife. Serve with Chef Larry’s Vanilla Sauce and Raspberry Coulis and lightly sweetened whipped cream

Makes 2 Strudels (8 - 10 Servings)

Chef Larry’s Vanlla Sauce (Crème Anglaise)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup milk
4 each egg yolks
1 1/2 tsp. sugar, granulated
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup cold milk

Method:

Bring the 1 1/2 cups of milk to a boil. Remove and set aside. Place egg yolks, sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl and whisk until mixture forms "ribbons." Combine hot milk and egg mixture in a saucepan and cook over low heat stirring constantly with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until sauce thickens. (Test by coating a spoon or spatula with mixture and running finger across it, if the sauce is thick and smooth and does not run together; it is at the proper consistency.) Remove from heat and incorporate the cold milk. Strain through a sieve and chill in a container placed in a bowl of ice water. When cool, cover and refrigerate until service. Sauce may thicken when refrigerated, if too thick add additional cold milk to achieve desired consistency.

Makes 2 cups

Chef Larry Raspberry Coulis

Ingredients:

1 cup ripe raspberries, hulled and sliced
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tblspn. sugar
Squeeze fresh lemon juice

Method:

Place raspberries, orange juice, sugar and lemon juice in a blender. Puree until smooth. Strain and reserve until use.

Makes 1 cup