Pear and brown butter strudel

Method

1. Heat the oven to 170°C fan/gas 5. Put the sultanas in a bowl with the brandy and leave to soak. Put the butter in a pan over a medium heat, then cook until the white solids caramelise, leaving toasty brown bits at the bottom of the golden yellow butter. You’ll know when the butter is ready when it stops making a loud sizzling noise (but keep an eye on it as it will start to get too burnt quite quickly after this).
2. Toast the breadcrumbs in a hot dry frying pan until nice and golden, then stir in the spices and about 30g of the brown butter. Peel, core and dice the pears into 2cm chunks, then put in a bowl with the lemon juice, soaked sultanas (with any leftover brandy), sugar and spiced breadcrumbs and stir until evenly mixed.
3. Lay a clean tea towel out on a work surface with the longest side facing you, then put a sheet of filo on top, leaving enough room for a second sheet above it. Brush with brown butter, then put a second sheet of filo above it, overlapping by one third. Paint that with brown butter too. Carefully spoon the filling onto the bottom third of the filo sheet in a long line. Lift up the bottom corners of the tea-towel to gently roll the pastry around the filling and into a tight log shape.
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4. Lay the tea-towel back flat (with the strudel at the top) then put another sheet of filo pastry below the strudel. Brush with brown butter and this time pull the top corners of the tea-towel to roll it back down, wrapping it in another layer of pastry. Repeat this process once more to use the remaining filo sheet (putting it above it and rolling away from you), then sprinkle the remaining 1 tbsp sugar on top. Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes.