Weekend cooking: apple strudel

Easter is coming; therefore, some excitement on the table in the form of desserts is expected.

However, if you have read a few posts of mine, you already know that I try not to use sugar in my baking recipes, and I like experimenting in the kitchen. 

Since the only "free" time to do my experiments is on weekends, and mostly during the cold months of the year (when the garden is off-limits), my Easter dessert recipe was already tried and tested this past weekend.

I decided to experiment with apple strudel recipe without added sugar (unless you sprinkle some on the crust before serving). The sweetness comes from the bananas and apples.

Apple strudel

You need:
Crust ingredients:
3 cups of whole wheat flour
1 cup apple sauce
3 Tbsp olive oil
½ cup water
¼ tsp baking soda

Filling ingredients:
1 ¼ cup cut walnuts
6 medium size apples (diced)
2 Tbsp cinnamon (to taste)
2 ripe bananas (mashed)

Instructions:
Dice the apples without peeling them, and mix with the mashed bananas, cinnamon and walnuts. Set aside and make the dough. In a large bowl, make a well in the flour. Mix the applesauce, water, oil, and baking soda and pour into the flour well. Gradually incorporate all ingredients by hand to form the dough. Divide the dough into two balls. Flatten the balls and roll to the size of the pan (I used 9 x 13 inches baking pan). Place the first layer of dough at the bottom of an oil-sprayed pan, top with the apple filling and cover with the second layer of dough. Pierce the upper layer of dough with a fork and bake at 400°F for 50 minutes. Until the strudel is still warm from the oven, you could sprinkle some cinnamon-sugar on top (this would be the only "added" sugar in the recipe).

Verdict: 
My husband and I liked the result, my daughter stated that she never wanted to try it again.