Apple Strudel

It's apple time in Indiana. Last week we went to the farmer's market and bought 10 pounds of Jonathan and Cortland apples. I baked apple strudel from my mother's recipe. I made one and one-half times the recipe below. It made 5 rolls of strudel. We ate 3 of them and froze 2. I think I didn't stuff the rolls as full as I should, because there was lots of filling left. I cooked it in a pot for a while with a little water and it was great. The filling can be modified to leave out the coconut or the nuts if you like.

Crust:
2 eggs
1/4 cup cooking oil
1/4 cup warm water

2 1/4 cups flour (sifted or pre-sifted)
1 1/2 tsp salt (I used less)
1 T sugar

Mix together the eggs, oil and water. Stir in the salt and sugar and then add the flour. Mix with a wooden spoon and then your hands until the dough is sticky and stretchy but not too hard. Refrigerate for at least the time it takes to make the filling, or overnight if you have time.

Filling:
6 or 7 big apples, peeled and grated coarsely. (I used my apple machine to peel and slice and then chopped with a cleaver. I liked the texture better than when I have used the grating blade on the food processor).
lemon or orange rind (from about 1 piece of fruit-I used bottled lemon rind)
1/2 C white raisins, chopped
cinnamon & sugar to taste
1/4 C cherries, cut up (marschino or dried cherries are fine)
1/4 C coconut
orange marmalade or strawberry jelly
2 T tapioca (or about 4 T flour)
2 T cornflakes, crumbled
2 heaping T brown sugar
1/4 C nuts

Taste and adjust the sugars.

On floured waxed paper roll out about 1/3 of the above dough. Make a thin rectangle perhaps 12 by 7 inches. Brush with oil (carefully) and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Heap the filling along one of the long edges. Roll up an oblong, tucking in the short ends first. Place on an oiled cookie sheet. Prick with a fork and mark with a knife where you want to cut the pieces. You can fit all 3 rolls on a single cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour. Let cool for a few minutes and then remove from cookie sheet (to waxed paper or a board) before any leaked-out filling has a time to harden. When cool, cut on the cutting lines.

I'm not sure strudel is actually better than apple pie, but it is fun to make.