Aside from sauerkraut, sausages, things made from minced up meat and beer, the Germanic people while conquering most of continental Europe in their day in the guise of Goths, Vandals and Franks have left quite a faint culinary footprint, or perhaps one that isn’t that discernible to us today.
Where accolades can be awarded to the Teutonic types is in the pastry kitchen, where they excel in fine pastries of all kinds, amongst them a few well-known pastries made from apples.
Viennese strudel, apfelkuche and apple streusel are three of the better known apple offerings from the German kitchen. Most of us Anglophiles remember ‘mum’s apple crumble’, a popular steaming winter dessert served up with either whipped cream or a ball of vanilla ice cream. The apple crumble’s topping is hard and dense with a softer underside and a crunchy concrete-like top. The German version, the apple streusel, incorporates either oats or, if you fancy them, sliced almonds in the crumble recipe which prevents it setting like concrete and ensures it remains both crunchy and soft. Superior German technology!!
The recipe below is for apple streusel. The topping is the streusel itself. The same apple filling can be used to make strudel, tarts or apfelkuche.
Ingredients:
Amounts good for baking dish approximately 32 cm x 22 cm
Short crust pastry base:
- All purpose flour x 200 gram
- Almond flour x 30 gram
- Confectioners sugar x 80 gram
- Salt x 2 gram
- Lemon zest of 1 lemon (optional)
- Butter x 120 gram
- Vanilla essence x 1 teaspoon
- Eggs x 1 medium
- Flour for dusting
Method:
Put all dry ingredients into a mixer with the paddle attachment, mix for a minute, add the cubed butter. When mixture is like grainy sand, add egg and vanilla. The mixture should come together in 20-30 seconds. Remove, wrap in cling wrap and set aside for 30 minutes before rolling out.
Apple filling:
- Granny Smith apple peeled and cubed x 6
- Sugar x 150 gram
- Lemon juice x 50 gram
- Orange juice x 50 gram
- Cornflour starch x 40 gram
- Walnuts chopped x 50 gram
- Raisins or sultanas x 50 grams
Method:
Put apples into a pot with the sugar, cook on a medium heat for about ten minutes to soften, then drop heat to low. Mix lemon and orange juice together with the corn starch, ensuring it is well combined with no lumps, add to the pot and mix in well, add walnuts and raisins, remove from the heat when the mixture starts to thicken, set aside to cool.
Streusel topping:
- All purpose flour x 150 gram
- Sugar x 150 gram
- Butter cubed small x 150 gram
- Sliced white almonds x 150 gram
- Pinch of salt
- Cinnamon, pinch (optional)
Method:
Add flour, sugar, salt and sliced almonds to a mixer with paddle, mix for 30 seconds, then add the butter and mix until combined as a rough mix with lumps. Warning: don’t over-mix. Set aside for use.
Putting everything together:
Roll out the short pastry to a thickness of 3 mm, making sure both sides are well dusted. I do it between two sheets of baking paper – less sticking and easier to move to the baking dish (pre-cut size of baking paper to fit size of dish). Place in dish, cutting off any excess dough. Tip the apple filling onto the pastry base and level so it’s even all over. Distribute the streusel over the apple filling, ensuring it’s approximately level and evenly distributed. Put into the oven preheated to 180°C, bake for thirty minutes, check if it needs longer (do it in 5-minute increments). My oven does it in 30-35 minutes: the streusel should be lightly brown on top. Remove to cool on rack and Das ist es!!!!
Enjoy as is, with whipped cream or a scoop of ice cream.
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