Guest Author - Anita Burroughs

If you’ve never worked with phyllo dough, it’s not as intimidating as it may seem. Phyllo dough consists of super fine sheets of dough that is often utilized for wonderfully crunchy desserts. You can purchase phyllo dough in your supermarket freezer section, usually in the section they sell frozen pie shells.

The key to working with phyllo dough is to cover any dough you are not actively working with covered with a damp towel. If you leave the dough out even for a minute, it dries up and crumbles. The other important thing is to work quickly so that the dough stays moist. If it’s your first time, you may lose a few sheets when you start out, but keep going and you’ll get the hang of it.

Here’s a very simple recipe for a banana strudel that can also be frozen for up to two weeks, and then baked. Just give the recipe a few extra moments to bake if it has been frozen.

Here goes the recipe:

Two sheets of phyllo dough, thawed
Two tablespoons of melted butter
Four tablespoons of confectioners’ sugar
Four tablespoons chopped toasted pecans
One medium banana that is ripe, sliced lengthwise in quarters
One tablespoon honey

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Now brush one sheet of the phyllo dough with the melted butter. If you have difficulty working with one single sheet, you can put two together (for a total of four sheets of phyllo) for this recipe and it will still work very well.

Brush one or two phyllo sheets with some of the melted butter, making sure you cover the entire surface. Now sift two tablespoons of confectioners’ sugar on top of the phyllo dough. Sprinkle the toasted nuts evenly over the dough. Cut the phyllo dough sheet in half lengthwise. Now take one quarter of the banana along the short edge of each phyllo half. Starting with the short end, tightly roll up the banana in the phyllo dough. Use the honey to dab along the edge of the phyllo to help seal the strudel. Repeat the same process with the second strudel.

Just before baking, brush the tops of the strudel with the rest of the melted butter. Place the strudels seam side down on a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon liner. Bake until the strudels are golden brown, about 13-15 minutes.

You should serve the strudels as quickly as you can once they come out of the oven, as phyllo dough tends to get soggy when it sits out. You can serve the strudels with iced cream or whipped cream if you like.

Serves Four.