Hello, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I have a strudel recipe to share. Fall has arrived and we're enjoying those chilly evenings.
The apple orchards have just started selling in bulk so today we went to get some Jonathon and Jonagold and Honey Crisp. Those are just for eating. Although our state is famous for the red delicious and yellow delicious, those aren't the most popular apples here. Early Fuji and Gala are the most popular because they're so good for cooking and eating. Anyway, we haven't made any cider yet, or doughnuts, but that will come soon!
I have a friend who swears by her slow cooker. So I bought one, and this book. (I had a slow cooker before, but never used it so I gave it to a friend.) Anyway, I bought this book but nothing in there was really for crock pots... Very confusing until I realized that the book was about SLOW COOKING and not crock pot cooking. LOL. The recipes are still good, they just take a really long time.
We went to a really fun eatery about an hour from us. Fire and Brimstone. Everything comes out of the oven. No French Fries because there's no hot oil! Crazy. But incredibly delicious.
So, on to the strudel recipe. You need two cups of cherries, pitted. Or, a can of cherry pie filling. We had a terrible year for cherries. Everything froze and instead of our .99 / lb cherries, we had nothing! Tragedy!
Anyway, the ingredients:
1 egg
pinch of salt
1/2 cup water
Whisk together.
Make a well with 1 3/4 cup of flour. Pour in the egg mixture.
Make a soft ball of dough.
Kneed for ten minutes or until stretchy and shiny.
Set under a glass bowl for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375F.
Take a clean, old pillow case. Lay it on a cookie sheet, sprinkle with flour.
Roll out the dough as thin as possible. It should be nearly translucent. Of course, I didn't get anywhere near that, but I tried. Cover with a wet towel and let it sit for ten minutes. Take it out an spread with the pie cherry mix.
So, this wasn't exactly the flaky strudel I've had but it wasn't horrible, either. Good thing I have a house full of teenagers because they gobbled it up!
The coconut added a lovely layer of flavor and texture to the strudel.
And just in case anyone is tempted to run right into their kitchen and make this, I'll leave you with this picture of my five year old's best friends. He said, "Aren't they beautiful? I have a whole pocketful!" Yikes...
Until next time! Pop on by my Pride, Prejudice and Cheese Grits page or my blog at The Things that Last!
I was groovin' along with this post until that last pic. Ewwwwwwww! LOL -- this looks yummy and curious. A pillowcase?! At first I was afraid that was going in the oven and I wondered if the fire department needed to be alerted before attempting this recipe. Phew. I love strudel....but apple is my favourite. Do you think this could be make with apples? The cooking time would be long enough to cook the apples.
ReplyDeleteI think you can make strudel with anything. I have a friend who makes the most delicious fig and walnut strudel. MMMMM!
DeleteAnd yes, the snails were not my most favorite part of that day, either!
Oh I love the addition of coconut. Coconut makes most anything taste better in my opinion. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry about your cherries. :(
Our farmer's market sells a Cherry Walnut Crumb pie. Since you've got me craving cherries now, I might have to stop by and pick one up tomorrow.
Love the new best friends. I'm about to have ladybugs descend on my class because we're reading James and the Giant Peach so of course we'll study ladybugs.
I don't remember another year when we didn't have cherries. It's something we always have, like apples! It never occurred to me there cold be a spring without cherries. :(
DeleteWe love ladybugs!! They're so interesting. I have a lot of rose bushes so we bring them over to places that have lots of aphids and tell them to "chow down"!
Sounds yum!! But I've never seen anything like using a pillowcase. Brilliant!!
ReplyDeleteWell, the recipe said to use an old sheet, but I thought that was odd, when you would have either cut it, or fold it... so why not a pillowcase? It definitely helped it stay together and only ripped a little bit as I rolled it.
DeleteBTW I think Gala is my favorite.
ReplyDeleteI like Galas, too. Great flavor and almost always crisp. I'm not a fan of the Delicious variety, because it seems like they don't store well, and we eat a lot of them out of hand. Definitely prefer more of a good eating apple than cooking apple!
DeleteSnips and snails and puppy dog tails! I love a full pocket!
DeleteI don't like Delicious apples. I know they're gorgeous, but they taste "woody" and Galas, Crispins, Honey Crisp and Jona Macs are so much better. And old fashioned Cortlands and 20 ounce apples.... Still great cooking apples.
I make strudel once in a while from scratch, but I generally use the frozen dough. Mostly to save time, and I cheat on cherries and buy them from a local farm market that carries frozed tart, pitted cherries, individually quick frozen. LOVE THEM. Yes, it's cheating, but you know what the time budget is like: EEEK!
Our apple blossoms froze a few years ago. We had so few apples (and you know I'm in WNY apple country) that cider was $7.50/ gallon and pecks of apples were like $9.00.... Crazy high prices but very little crop, and that's so sad for the farmers.
DeleteMust think about sleeping soon, because I'm editing in the middle of the night, and I edit better if I'm AWAKE. :)
haha! I know what you mean. As I get older, I've had to rearrange my editing/writing time. Late night means fuzzy brain for me. I spend too much time staring at the screen that it's just not productive.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, the time thing. Definitely using puff pastry next time. But maybe not the canned cherries. They were... very... canned. Maybe there's another variety where it's just the cherries? And I want to be near that farm with the pitted, frozen cherries. YES, PLEASE.