Easy braided puff pastry strudel with apple and cottage cheese

Very easy to make, doesn’t take too much time to prepare, simple, but well know and bellowed flavors and ingredients.

It is a simple dessert that you can prepare during the week, then eat it in the morning with your tea or coffee, or take it with you and eat it during your break at work. The only twist is the decoration on the top that makes this pastry very pretty and attractive. You can see the steps of preparation in the photos.

It is something that most of the kids will also eat, without a doubt, so it’s a good recipe for all of those who have lack of time and a lot of kids with sweet tooth around.

Definitely one day I will challenge myself and will try to do the puff pastry at home, but the one that you can buy in the supermarket works perfectly well for many recipes, sweet or salty. It is actually one of my favorite kitchen ingredients, especially when some unexpected visitors are coming to you. So, most of the time I keep one sheet in the fridge to have it just in case of emergency. It is very easy to work with it, it can be baked in a very short time, and what else can I say, I am addicted to puff pastry, and if I could I would eat it every day!

Ingredients:

• 2 sheets of puff pastry
• 1 egg beaten

Cottage cheese filling:

• 250 gr cottage cheese
• ½ lemon zest
• 1-2 tbsp of sugar
• 1 package of vanilla sugar
• 1-2 tbsp. of crushed biscuits

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.

Apple filling:

• 3-4 big apples grated
• 1-2 spoons of sugar
• a pinch of cinnamon
• a sprinkle of lemon juice
• 1-2 tbsp. breadcrumbs
• 1-2 tbsp. of crushed biscuits

Mix the first 4 ingredients together in a bowl. Let it sit for 20-30 minutes. Squeeze the released juice out of the grated apple mixture with your hands. Add the dry ingredients.

Instructions:

1. Pre heat the oven to 220C. Beat the egg and water in a small bowl with a fork.
2. Sprinkle a little bit of flour on the working surface. Unfold the pastry sheets on the work surface and roll it just a little bit. After that, you will need to cut 4 thin stripes (2-2 from each piece), that we will use for decoration later on. You can cut it by knife or pizza cutter.
3. Transfer the two pasty pieces to a parchment lined baking sheet.
4. Put the fillings into the middle, then put one of the sides of the pastry on the top of the filling (we are starting to wrap our roll). Brush it with the whisked egg and put the other half of the pastry on top. Keep the roll seam-side up. Tuck the ends of the roll to seal. Brush the whole roll with the egg.
5. Put on the decoration. Place the stripes in a zig-zag form, so that the second one makes the mirror image of the first. Brush them as well.
6. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. Let the pastry cool for about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with icing sugar before serving.