Fruit and nut strudel recipe

Fruit and nut strudel is a parcel full of luxury, made from crispy filo pastry packed with fruit, nuts and spices. As if the toffee apple flavours aren't moreish enough, a rum punch sauce takes this to new levels of scrumminess

Ingredients

• 700g Cox apples, peeled, cored, quartered and chopped into 1cm chunks
• 25g knob butter, plus 50g melted
• 50g light muscovado sugar
• 1tsp ground cinnamon
• 3tbsp dark rum
• 100g dates, chopped
• 1x270g pack Jus Rol filo pastry (6 sheets)
• 75g pistachios, chopped

For the rum punch sauce:

• 50g butter
• 50g light muscovado sugar
• 1tbsp golden syrup
• 150ml double cream
• 3-4tbsp rum

Method

1. Fry the apples in the knob of butter until golden. Add the sugar and cinnamon and heat until the sugar has dissolved. Add the dark rum and allow to bubble. Stir in the dates and leave to cool slightly.
2. Heat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4. Brush a baking tray with butter and layer 2 sheets of filo (overlapping by about 8cm). Brush with the melted butter and scatter over a handful of pistachios. Repeat with the remaining filo and nuts (reserve a few for sprinkling over the strudel before serving).
3. Spoon the apple mixture down the middle of the pastry, along the seam. Roll up the pastry around it, folding over the ends and making sure the fold is on the underside, so it doesn’t break open during cooking. Bake for 20-30 mins or until golden.
4. For the sauce, heat the butter, sugar and syrup together until the sugar has dissolved. Stir in the cream and rum. Serve with the strudel.