Crisps, Strudel and Recession, my oh my

The May Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

Its already that time again, Daring Bakers. Time is surely flying. June. I thought yesterday was February. It doesn't quite feel like spring, or it might even be summer. Its been a bit of a odd spring. It is probably because this is the first time that summer won't bring a new place, a new start, a renewal. Instead, I am officially an adult -- working. Eek that seems even stranger to say out loud.


It is also strange due to this economic climate, that one of colleagues who sits nearly next to me was made 'redundant'. In the US, the term is 'laid off'. What do you say to someone who has more experience, who has been at the company longer? I'm just a graduate with a lower salary, must be cheap labour, will I be next?. It's getting tougher each day. On top of it, our expenses are going up and we are attempting to save for our trip to Iceland in July. Yesterday, Jussi and I were checking every pocket, corner, and purse for a bit extra change to buy some crisps. Yum, Kettle crisps - the recession antidote.

In light of this penny-pinching or perhaps pence-pinching, I've been making lots at home, however nothing too revelational or exciting. Old budget staples and using up what is in the fridge. Notably, lots of dough from scratch - lets see pizza, focaccia, even hot dog buns (and somehow I don't deem white flour preparations worthy of this blog, perhaps I should get over myself). In the same budget mood and doughy festivities, strudel fits in perfectly around our tiny flat.


Although strudel looks intimidating as we eye it at the Borough Market with its flaky layers, the purse strings yank at us to make at home. Apples are cheap, but even less expensive are the few pears sitting at the bottom of the fruit bowl and frozen berries ready in the freezer. And speaking of pence-pinching, no gym membership - try strudel stretching.

The original recipe can be found here: http://linda.kovacevic.nl/

The budget-saving variations were applied to the filling to accomodate what we had around:
2 tablespoons contireu (what we have around)
3 tablespoons (45 ml) raisins (omitted)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (80 g) sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick / 115 g) unsalted butter, melted, divided
1 1/2 cups (350 ml) fresh bread crumbs
1/2 cup (120 ml, about 60 g) coarsely chopped walnuts (omitted, too expensive)
2 pounds (900 g) tart cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into ¼ inch-thick slices (use apples that hold their shape during baking) (replaced with 1 pound pears, and half bag frozen mixed berries)


Even with the cost cutting measures, it was tasty. We didn't run into any challenges into the process. Except for when we tried covering the entire table in parchment paper (lack of table cloths in our tiny place), which didn't work at all. Just failed, don't try it. Oh well. Also we ended up rolling it the short way versus the long way to make a snake, as we were hoping for millions of layers of flaky crust, which we preferred over volume. It might of been too many millions, as we ended up with reasonably flaky crust with a number of layers stuck together.

As far as on list of recommended recipes, it was good for strudel, but I've decided I'm a bit more of a turnover kind of girl. No not the one you take to bed, but those of goodness, sweetness, and everything nice inside. Perhaps this recipe can be modified to satisfy the turnover urges in you.



Okay, I know I'm covering up the lack of posting with this post. Yes for economic reasons, its been difficult to post about cooking, much less travelling. Its been busy - there is a recession out there, you hear! But we are off to Helsinki tomorrow for a long weekend of graduation parties, so hopefully will have celebratory food stories to share.