Follow up to my 12:25 am Thursday night post

As you may recall, I posted at 12:25 am on Thursday night while I waited for a kugel to finish baking, on my mission to get as much done as possible before Friday, inspired by this blog here.  I went to bed sometime around 1 am, not a late hour for me (sadly enough).

What did I have left to do on Friday?  I planned on baking dessert, making a veggie (something with green beans), and I think that was it.  Shabbat lunch was basically leftovers (+ a fresh chicken dish) so that made it easy.

Friday afternoon I found my green bean recipe - super easy (and amazing - I've never seen green beans consumed that fast).

For dessert I planned on chocolate walnut torte, but since my guests included a tree-nut allergy, that became a chocolate torte.  When I came home, I discovered that I ran out of eggs and flour, so there went the torte.  I spent about 10 minutes wondering what to make for dessert.  Finally - thank you, Susie! - I pulled out my Short on Time cookbook (um, because I was) and found the baby apple tart recipe.  Perfect!  I had everything I need.  And then - I decided to change the recipe half-way through the process (recipe to follow).

Anyway - long story short - I had EVERYTHING ready for Shabbat EARLY, and since the children were playing nicely by themselves, I did the unthinkable:  I pulled out a book and actually read about the parsha for about 7 minutes.

Wow, can you imagine?

I felt awesome.  I really did.  And when everyone came over and so generously offered to help, I sincerely meant it when I said, "Thanks - but I'm good, everything is done."

Here's my super-easy last-minute dessert:

Almost-Strudel (hey - I just made that up!)

* 1 puff pastry, thawed and at room temperature
* 1 apple, diced (I sliced it and I know that dicing it will be easier)
* 1 jar of jam, like cranberry or apricot or something that complements apples (I used our homemade apple cranberry jam)
* a bit of margarine + a bit of brown sugar + cinnamon - all melted together in a pan

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
1.  Unwrap the puff pastry so it's a square.
2.  Slather your jam on top of the dough.  Use as much as you like!  (I used almost 8 ounces)
3.  Evenly distribute the apple pieces all over the jam.
4.  Add the brown sugar mixture on top of the apples.  The mixture won't cover all of the apples - that's ok.
5.  Fold one third over the middle section, and fold the other third over the middle section, and transfer to a baking pan (I lined mine with aluminum foil), seam side down.
6.  Bake for about 30 minutes, until brown and golden.  Some of the filling may leak out.
7.  Before you serve, warm it up a bit.  Slice and graciously accept compliments.