APPLE STRUDEL

3 large green cooking apples

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup dark seedless raisins

1/2 cup California walnuts, chopped

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

about 3/4 cup dried bread crumbs

1/2 pound phyllo

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

confectioner's sugar

1. Grease large cookie sheet. Peel and thinly slice apples. In large bowl, toss apples with next 6 ingredients and 1/4 cup bread crumbs.

2. Cut two 24-inch lengths of waxed paper; overlap two lengthwise sides about 2 inches; fasten with tape.

3. On waxed paper, overlap a few sheets of phyllo to make 16" by 12" rectangle, brushing sheets where they overlap with some melted butter. Brush entire rectangle with melted butter, sprinkle with scant tablespoon crumbs. Repeat, brushing each layer with butter and sprinkling every other lay with crumbs.

4. Preheat oven to 375 F. Starting along one long side of phyllo, spoon apple mixture to cover about 1/2 of phyllo rectangle. From apple-mixture side, roll jelly-roll fashion.

5. Place roll on cookie sheet, seam-side down. Brush with melted butter. Bake 40 min or until golden. Cool on cookie sheet 30 minutes.

6. To serve, sprinkle strudel with confectioners sugar; slice. Serve warm or cold. 14 servings

You can turn out perfect apple strudel once you know how to work with phyllo (pronounced "FEE-lo") paper-thin, almost transparent sheets of dough you buy by the pound, ready to use.

Prepare the apple-filling mixture first before you unwrap the phyllo-the unwrapped dough can dry out quickly, become crumbly. (You can, if you want, keep it covered with a moist, clean kitchen towel). Trim the sheets of phyllo, if necessary, with kitchen shears or a knife when you fit them together to form a 16 by 12 rectangle.

Spoon filling mixture over only one half of the phyllo rectangle so it won't ooze out along the seam and cause strudel to stick to the pan.

To roll the strudel, jelly-roll fashion, lift the edge of the waxed paper on which you have placed it. Using both hands, roll strudel, starting from appple-mixture side, pressing lightly and lifting away paper as you roll.

"Susan, our beginning cook"