Hello lovelies,
today we're having a treat – these colorful apple strudel pralines. They really do taste like a little apple strudel you can eat with your fingers: soft-cooked apples with cinnamon, raisins, apricots and walnuts, plus toasted rolled oats to bind it all – rolled into balls and coated in colorful fruit powders. And the best part: completely no-bake. If you would rather have the oven on, that same apple and cinnamon pairing goes into a yeast dough for my moist apple muesli buns, brushed with a little jam just before they bake.
The idea was born on a culinary trip to South Tyrol, where Luca Sordi, the chef of the vegan hotel La Vimea, turned the classic apple strudel into praline form, and at our table the pralines are the kids' version, while the grown-ups get a sweet apple tarte flambée with almonds, flambéed at the end with a splash of Calvados.
The most fun part is rolling them in the three fruit powders – yellow from apple chips and turmeric, red with beetroot powder, and green from coconut and matcha. My kids love shaping the balls themselves and rolling them until they're bright and colorful; served in an old wooden box they look like little works of art. For more small and big ideas with apples, see my overview of apple recipes for the whole family.
One tip up front: do let the mixture rest before you roll – the oats keep absorbing moisture and the balls hold together far better; the cashew cream for my baked apple with cashew cinnamon ice cream needs the same patience, 3 to 4 hours in the freezer without an ice cream machine. Any matcha left over from the green powder goes into the waffle iron the next weekend, for my green matcha waffles with lime, where roughly chopped white chocolate sweetens the batter and egg and butter make it fluffy.
These pralines are part of our South Tyrol story – read how they came together with the chef of La Vimea in 2 great recipes from South Tyrol.
If you love apples in desserts, also try my vegan apple cake with crumbles and my apple cinnamon muffins. And if it gives you a touch of wanderlust, my travel diary South Tyrol for families and vegan foodies has much more from the region.
