Apple Strudel

INGREDIENTS:

Apple Filling

6 cups apples, peeled and sliced (about 5–6 medium apples, I never count exactly)
1 cup sugar
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon

Crust

3¾ cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1½ cups shortening
2 egg yolks plus enough water to equal 1 cup — reserve the egg whites

Icing

1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp milk or light cream, approximately
½ tsp vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat your oven to 350°F. While that’s heating up, peel and slice your apples — I do mine in thin-ish slices, not too thin or they’ll disappear into mush. Toss them with the sugar, flour, and cinnamon and set the bowl aside. The filling will start to get a little syrupy as it sits, which is fine. That’s what you want.
For the crust: combine the flour, salt, and sugar, then cut in the shortening. This is the part where people who are nervous about pastry start to get anxious. Don’t. Work it until it looks like coarse crumbs — some people say “pea-sized pieces” and that’s about right. Then add your egg yolk and water mixture and stir it together until a dough forms. It shouldn’t be sticky. If it is, a little more flour.
Divide the dough in half. Take one half and roll it out to fit a 10×15 inch jelly roll pan — with the sides, not just the bottom. I’ll be honest, I’ve never been super precise about this. I roll it out roughly to size and press it in. It doesn’t need to be perfect. Spread your apple filling over the crust in an even layer.
Roll out your second piece of dough and lay it over the top. Press the edges together — I crimp them with a fork sometimes, sometimes I just press and call it a day. Brush the top with the reserved egg white. It gives the crust this beautiful golden sheen that I still find deeply satisfying to look at, every single time. Cut a few small slits across the top so the steam can get out.
Bake for 45 to 60 minutes. My oven runs a little hot and I’m usually pulling it at around 48 minutes. You want the top to be a deep golden brown — not pale, really properly golden. The apples inside should be completely soft.
While it’s still hot out of the oven, mix your icing — just whisk the powdered sugar with vanilla and add cream or milk a little at a time until it’s thin and pourable. Spread or drizzle it over the hot crust. It’ll melt in a little and that’s exactly right. Don’t let it cool first.