My favorite fall treat : Apple Strudel

My mom use to fill the house with the smell of Apple Strudel each fall. I still remember walking in the house and just melting from the smell. This is one of my all time favorite recipes!

Apple Strudel

• one sheet of thawed puff pastry
• two apples, peeled, cored, and cut into thin slices (I recommend using two different kinds of apples just to add a little interest to the flavors. My favorite? Granny smith and Honey Crisp)
• 2-3 tbsp of sugar depending on how sweet your apples are
• 1 tbsp of flour
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• a good pinch of salt
• 1 egg

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
2. Slice up your apples as thin as you can. If you slice them thickly you will want to add a few minutes to baking time. Put the apples in a medium bowl.
3. Sprinkle the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt over the apples. Toss the apples really well with those dry ingredients. You want all the slices to be coated well.
4. Roll out the sheet of pastry till thin but not too thin.
5. Pile the apples along the bottom edge, but leave a good margin of pastry as a border.
6. Fold the pastry over the apples as of you are wrapping a present ( which really you are!) , and pinch the edges together. You'll end up with a long rectangular shape that looks like a giant toaster strudel.
7. Carefully put the "log" on a baking sheet, pinched-edge-side down. Fold under the ends to make sure everything stays where it's supposed to.
8. Brush the top with a little beaten egg, and sprinkle with a bit of sugar. Cut about three slits in the top so steam can escape.
9. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the top is brown and you're intoxicated by the smell of apples.
10. Cut it into slices, and serve with vanilla ice cream.Or go wild and add a little caramel sauce . Holy sweetness.

Rockin' Guacamole!

Ingredients

• 2 ripe avocados
• 1/2 red onion, minced (about 1/2 cup)
• 1-2 Serrano chilies, stems and seeds removed, minced
• 1 tablespoon of fresh lime or lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• A dash of freshly grated black pepper
• 1/2 ripe tomato, seeds and pulp removed, chopped

Serve with tortilla chips.

Method

1 Cut avocados in half. Remove seed. Scoop out avocado from the peel, put in a mixing bowl.

2 Using a fork, mash the avocado. Add the chopped onion, lime or lemon, salt and pepper and mash some more. Chili peppers vary individually in their hotness. So, start with a half of one chili pepper and add to the guacamole to your desired degree of hotness. Be careful handling the peppers; do not touch your eyes and wash hands well. Use lemon juice on your fingers to get rid of extra pepper
Keep the tomatoes separate until ready to serve. Blend to taste.

3 Cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the guacamole and refrigerate until ready.

4 Just before serving, add the chopped tomato to the guacamole and mix.
Serves 2-4.