Cherry Strudel is a variation of a traditional and well known Viennese Apple Strudel, it is a very scrumptious dessert made with very thin elastic pastry, and the filling contains fresh cherries, a bit of sugar, lemon zest and breadcrumbs. If you are thinking that you cannot be bothered pitting the cherries and making your own dough, I can guarantee you an equal delicious results using store bought pastry and jarred, tinned or frozen cherries, no hassle involved!

Apple strudel dates back to1696, when it was first mentioned, and “conquered” all the countries that were once part of Austro-Hungarian Empire, but it is believed that strudel originated from baklava (a famous Turkish pastry based dessert) and travelled to Austria with Ottoman's Empire and through Hungarian cuisine.

Apple strudel has been a big hit in all the countries that were once ruled by Austro-Hungarian Empire, but it is in the North Adriatic that this new variation was created giving originality to a very unique and less known type of strudel. A cherry strudel, is a very much loved seasonal dessert in Slovenian Istra, (Češnjev štrudelj or Češnjev zavitek) where I come from, and neighbouring Trieste in Italy.

Cherry strudel has always been very popular, and when fresh cherries are in season, this dessert is regularly baked in the households, and if you are lucky enough, sometimes you can find it on the menus of informal family run restaurants.

This irresistible dessert really takes me back to my childhood. My mother frequently baked it with fresh cherries picked by ourselves in the garden, or were very generously given by our neighbours, it is the garden where I, as a child, spent a lot of time when my parent were working in the restaurant. Along with the girl next door, who was only a year older than me, we used to pick cherries from the tree that had the reddest and ripest cherries, climbed up it, found a comfortable branch to sit on and munch on cherries until we were completely full, chatting and giggling...

When we were called for lunch, there was little appetite left for it, no matter how delicious it was, and my mother would only looked at us and had the answer, our T-shirts were stained, our lips and mouths deep red in colour from the cherry juices...she never got cross with us, just smiled and shook her head...since my mother used to do exactly the same when she was small...

Looking back, it just made me realize how lucky I was, the first time I ever had the chance to buy fresh cherries was when as an adult I moved to England...

Cherry strudel is traditionally served warm and generously dusted (there is no sugar in pastry) with regular icing sugar or vanilla flavoured icing sugar.

You can turn this simple and rustic pudding into an elegant dessert and serve it with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream or vanilla sauce.

I am sharing here my mother's recipe, which is slightly off the beaten track, for cherry strudel made with home-made pastry and fresh cherries, however you can still indulge yourself and cut corners a bit by using a store bought ready made puff pastry and frozen, tinned or jarred cherries.

Ingredients

Serves 10-12

You can use store bought ready made puff pastry, shortcrust or filo pastry.

Ingredients for home-made strudel dough

250g all purpose flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 Tbsp neutral tasting vegetable oil (I used sunflower oil)
2 Tbsp white wine vinegar or lemon juice
sea salt, a pinch
50ml-60ml lukewarm water, or as needed

Ingredients for cherry filling

700g fresh cherries, washed and pitted (can also use tinned or jarred cherries or store bought frozen cherries, defrost and drain well)
100g caster sugar
1 unwaxed lemon, grated zest
20g butter plus, some extra for brushing
80g dry fine breadcrumbs
sea salt, a pinch
icing sugar, for dusting

Method

To make the dough

Place the flour in a big mixing bowl and make a well.

In a separate, smaller bowl, mix slightly beaten egg, oil, vinegar or lemon juice, (the acidity will help to relax gluten in the flour making the dough more stretchy) a pinch of sea salt and lukewarm water. Pour the mixture into a flour well.

With the fork, stir the mixture with the flour until well combined. Add a little bit of flour at a time, until the dough comes nicely together, then work the dough with your hands.

Transfer the dough on a lightly floured working surface and knead the dough for about 10 minutes or until nice and smooth.

After this time, the dough should be moist and elastic and not sticky. Add a little more flour if the dough is too sticky to knead.

In order to further encourage the development of the gluten, resulting in a very elastic dough, slam the dough onto the working surface a few times.

Shape the dough into a smooth ball and place it in a clean bowl, previously brushed with oil.

Cover the bowl with cling film and let the dough rest for about 1 hour at room temperature (strudel dough has no yeast, so do not expect the dough to rise or double in size, it needs to rest for gluten to relax).

To make the filling

In a small pan melt the butter over medium-low heat. When the butter is melted add breadcrumbs, toast them, stirring constantly until golden-brown in colour. Remove from the heat, cool and set aside.

Wash the cherries, dry them a bit, take the stalks off and pit them. Place them in a colander and leave them to drain until needed.

Preheat the oven to 200C static or equivalent.

Divide the dough in half to make two separate strudels as easier to work with.

Place half of the dough on a clean and lightly floured table cloth. Flour the rolling pin and start rolling out the dough. While rolling, to prevent sticking, flour the dough and the surface every now and then.

When the dough reaches about 20 cm in diameter pick it up and keep stretching it. The best way to do so is to use the back of your hands and in particular the knuckles but make sure you remove any sharp jewellery first.

When the dough becomes difficult to handle as it becomes bigger and thinner, place it on a lightly floured tablecloth.

With your hands (tip of the fingers) keep stretching gently the dough on the tablecloth to paper thin consistency, from the inside to the outside working your way round the sheet of dough.

Keep stretching until the sheet of dough starts to look almost translucent and you will be able to see a pattern of your tablecloth through it.

You should end up with a thin sheet of dough stretched more or less into a rectangular shape with a diameter of approximately 40 cm which will fit into a standard 40 cm baking tray.

If you notice that the edges are still a bit thick, stretch them further very gently or cut them off. If you leave the edges thick, when rolling the strudel, they will form quite a thick layer at the very centre of the strudel risking to remain slightly underbaked.

Transfer the cherries into a bowl, add sugar, breadcrumbs mixture, lemon zest and mix well to incorporate all the ingredients.

Place and spoon evenly the cherry mixture over one half of the dough sheet leaving about 2-3cm to the edge. Fold in the side ends of the sheet to prevent filling coming out during rolling.

Using the tablecloth to help you, roll the dough all the way and roll it directly onto a sheet of baking parchment, seam side down.

Transfer very gently the baking parchment with the rolled strudel on a baking tray.

Repeat the process with the other half of the dough.

Brush it with a bit of melted butter.

Bake on the middle shelf for 40-45 minutes.

Cherry Strudel is ready when the crust turns nice and golden.

Take it out of the oven and let it cool completely. Dust it with icing sugar, cut into slices and serve it on its own or with vanilla ice cream or cream.

Just a thought

You can make the strudel dough ahead and keep it refrigerated for up to two days. Before using the dough take it out of the fridge allowing it to come to a room temperature.

Cherry strudel is best eaten the day is made. You can keep cherry strudel in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days or overnight on the counter.

Wine suggestion

Friuli Colli Orientali Verduzzo Sottozona Cialla DOC "Verduzzo di Cialla" 2016 - Ronchi di Cialla

Apple strudel is a traditional Viennese dessert, made of very thin elastic pastry, and the filling contains sliced apples, sugar, cinnamon, raisins (soaked in dark rum), lemon zest, lemon juice and bread crumbs. This popular pastry can also be found in the rest of Austria, Bavaria, Czech Republic, Northern Italy, and in many other countries in Europe that were once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

It is believed that strudel originated from baklava, a very famous Turkish pastry based dessert, that came to Austria with the Ottoman's Empire and through Hungarian cuisine.

Records show that Strudel was first named in 1696 and gained popularity after it was served to Empress Maria Theresia who was the ruler of the Habsburg dominions and the only women to hold the position.

In Slovenia and in coastal Istria, areas that also once belonged to Austro-Hungarian Empire, apple strudel became, and today still is, a very well known sweet treat. It has gained such a high level of popularity that it is almost considered a national dessert. During autumn and winter months, this typical and very much loved dessert would be baked on a regular basis up and down the country, with little variations, and no Sunday roast lunch could be completed without a slice of strudel, dusted, of course, with a generous amount of icing sugar. When this task was left for us children, there would be so much icing sugar on the top that you could hardly see what type of dessert was hiding underneath it. Some things just never change...this is what happens when I leave my 11 year old son with the icing sugar task!

Apple strudel in Slovenia is called Jabolčni štrudelj or Jabolčni zavitek while along the coast of Northwest Istria, where the informal Istrian dialect is also spoken, it can be referred to as Strucolo de pomi.

Strudel made with apples is by far the most popular but in the North Adriatic two variations of strudel have been created and are also very well liked, strudel filled with ricotta cheese filling and strudel with cherries.

In my family we all knew when it was weekend, as apple strudel, this warming autumnal pudding, would be in the oven, and the aromas of apples and cinnamon would travel around the house. This dessert is not just part of my childhood but part of my adulthood as well. It has been the most frequently baked dessert by my mum and even today my friends and family cannot get enough of it. Now that I live abroad it is even more special, and it really does take me right back home to my childhood, and my mum's kitchen.

Apple strudel is traditionally served warm, dusted with regular icing sugar or vanilla floured icing sugar, and when accompanied with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream or vanilla sauce, this rustic pudding soon turns into a complete and very elegant dessert.

This recipe for apple strudel is made with home made pastry, however you can still indulge yourself and cut corners a bit by using a store bought ready made puff pastry, in which case only half the amount of apple filling is enough

Apples can be sliced or coarsely grated and lightly toasted walnuts can replace pine kernels.

In this recipe I will indicate which apples are appropriate to use for apple strudel, however, I have never used specific type of apples and that is simply because I always bake apple strudel when apples are in season and abundant in nature. Apples would be generously given from neighbours and friends with fruit orchards or apple trees in their gardens, I just make sure I taste them and pick a mixture of sweet and tart apples.