| 1 | To prepare dough: put butter in a medium saucepan and melt slowly over low heat. |
| 2 | Do not let butter brown. |
| 3 | Pour warm butter into a large bowl. |
| 4 | Add ice cream and stir together until ice cream is melted. |
| 5 | Mixture will look lumpy. |
| 6 | Add flour and stir together until flour is incorporated and soft dough forms. |
| 7 | Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight. |
| 8 | Chilled dough should feel firm to touch. |
| 9 | To fill each strudel: remove dough from refrigerator and divide it into 4 pieces. |
| 10 | Roll 1 piece of dough between your hands into a small ball. |
| 11 | Do this quickly so that dough does not soften. |
| 12 | Press dough into a 1" thick disc. |
| 13 | Lightly flour rolling surface and roll dough to 12 x 6" rectangle about 1/8" thick. |
| 14 | Lift and turn dough several times as you roll it so it doesn"t stick to rolling surface. |
| 15 | The 12" side of dough should be facing you. |
| 16 | Leaving ? edge all around, spread 2 tb of apricot preserves evenly over dough. |
| 17 | Sprinkle evenly with 1/3 cup raisins and ?cup pecans. |
| 18 | With long side still facing you, roll up strudel. |
| 19 | Press edges and seam together to seal tightly. |
| 20 | Repeat with 3 remaining pieces of dough. |
| 21 | Each strudel strip can be wrapped separately in aluminum foil and frozen at this point for up to 3 months. |
| 22 | Position oven rack in bottom third of oven. |
| 23 | Preheat oven to 375°F. |
| 24 | Unwrap as many strudel strips as you want to bake. |
| 25 | Line baking sheet with aluminum foil from frozen strudel. |
| 26 | Place strudel, seam side down, on baking sheet. |
| 27 | If baking more than one, place strips 2" apart. |
| 28 | Bake 35 to 40 minutes, reversing baking sheet front to back after 25 minutes to ensure even browning. |
| 29 | Strudel crust should look golden brown. |
| 30 | Cool 10 minutes on baking sheet. |
| 31 | Transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely. |
