Ever since I was a child I have loved strudel. There’s something about the delicate, flaky crust paired with the luscious fruit filling that makes strudel one of the world’s most versatile treats. Served warm with ice cream or enjoyed with coffee, tea or hot chocolate, strudel makes a fantastic dessert for any time of the day and for any occasion.
Strudel fillings are sensational. Apple…blueberry…cherry. This week I decided to make pear strudel so off to the orchard we went.
We’ve reached the peak of fall here in New England and there’s an abundance of orchard fruit ready for picking. How wonderful it is to fill a bag with fresh, juicy, ripe pears and bring them home to make mouthwatering pear strudel with toasted hazelnuts and local honey.
As soon as we returned home we began working on the dough.
I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to look outside the kitchen window while prepping dessert and see the glorious red, orange and yellow leaves against the blue sky.
Hours pass.
I pull on my coziest socks, sit at the table with my husband and cut a slice.
Steam rises from the dough. Pulling the flaky crust apart, I take my first bite of the baby pear strudel. Heaven.
You’ve got to try this strudel.
Baby Pear Strudel with Hazelnuts and Honey
100 g. dried cherries, halved
2 tsp Kirschwasser
50 g hazelnuts, halved and toasted
750 g diced Bosc pears, peeled, diced and placed in bowl of water until ready to use
35g fresh breadcrumbs, finely ground
50 g light brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. coriander
1/8 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp. cardamom
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tbs. good quality honey
1 completed recipe puff pastry (I recommend the recipe in the book Baking with Julia, written by Dorie Greenspan)
a little flour
a little sugar
egg wash
Preheat oven to 390 degrees.
Mix cherries with Kirschwasser and let marinate for at least one hour.
In separate bowl combine, bread crumbs, brown sugar, cinnamon, pepper, coriander, ginger, and cardamom.
Drain pears thoroughly, removing excess with paper towel. Mix with honey and vanilla. Mix in cherries, hazelnuts, and remaining dry ingredients.
Roll out the puff pastry on a bit of flour to about 1/8″ thickness. Cut into rectangles 8″ long and 6″ wide. Fold each rectangle lengthwise over a 1/2 dowel to prevent the crease from sticking. Pull dowel about an inch away from the crease toward the open ends. Use scissors to snip along the crease to make vents. Remove dowel. Open pastry lengthwise. Add a strip of filling along the center of the dough, lengthwise. Brush edges with egg wash. Fold bottom edges up just so it covers over the filling edge. Fold sides left to right over filling. Seal.
Using a spatula, flip the pastry over, being careful not to rip the vents in the dough. You should now have a fruit filled log with vents on the top.
Separate the vents slightly. Brush with egg wash. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake until puffed and golden, about 20-25 mnutes.
Place the fruit roll on a silpat lined baking sheet. Bake until golden, about 30 minutes.
Note: If you wish to freeze the strudel before baking, place it on a cookie sheet and freeze. Then wrap the strudel in freezer safe paper and a freezer bag. When ready to serve, defrost the strudel 30-45 minutes and bake as instructed above.
Bon Appetit!
Gorgeous!! Every photo. The strudel looks amazing.
That strudel looks delicious! I’ve always used phyllo dough for strudel, I’m not sure why I never considered puff pastry. And as usual your photos are beautiful
I love strudel too but can never find it where I live. The pics are awesome. I especially love the pear and the little girl.
beautiful pics,especially the little lady with her long hair…and pumpkins!
the pear strudel is so yummy,my mother is a specialist in it!
one more ‘oh that’s so pretty!’ I love to bake with pears, and this looks wonderful.
I join the chorus.. such lovely photos.. feel like I’m right there in your part of New England and not down NYC way. Puff pastry is a great way to go… I have never been crazy about the phyllo dough version!
I have a pile of pears! Thank god you posted this recipe. Where did you get that cute little board the strudel is sitting on? I can’t quite figure out what it is. Is it from a doll house or something? Anyway, the photos are tres gorgeous and the dessert looks incredible.
Love the warm fall colors! I’ve never made strudel but it sounds great!
Love it. Sensational photos as always.
Chloe, thanks for your comment. The little board is actually an antique auction paddle. One would hold it up at an auction if they were placing a bid. It’s about 5 or 6″ long. I purchased it at an antique store in New England.
A fabulous strudel! those are wonderful flavors that gon so well together.
Lovely pics!
Cheers,
Rosa
I love streudel! I love the crust and the fruity filling. Leaves had not changed color much over here yet, we just got our blast of cold weather so hopefully we get the wonderful colors of fall soon!
Every time I’ve had streudel, it was with apples. I like your pear version very much. It must be more fragrant.
It has been about a million years since I have had a strudel, but this post brings me back to the days before high school when I would stop by at the local bakery and pick up strawberry cheesecake strudels, what a treat it was! I loved the flakiness of the pastry and warmed of sweet fruit. This looks like quite a luscious recipe with the wonderful sweet spices and the intriguing addition of dried cherries and Kirschwasser. Magnificent!
Apple and pear picking is such a fulfilling activity!
Oh, I think I need to make one of these!! and anything with honey is a go for me!!
lovely photo’s as always!!
Love it El. Incredible photographs as always. I’d like you to you photograph my kids!
I get lost in your photos everytime I come here… they are just too gorgeous for words. You have a lot of talent, my dear!
This is heaven in a post El…warm with fall flavours and absolutely stunning, as are your pictures! Beautiful!!
Your strudel looks wonderful! It doesn’t look as difficult as I thought it might. I’m looking forward to trying this recipe!
What a beautiful visual image you painted with your words, El. I was warmed as the steam rose from you slice. It is a cold Saturday morning in Alberta and I am getting caught up on my readings before I head out to our last market of the season. It is gorgeous here, too. Magnificent.
How did you get your hazelnuts so clean? I toast and rub in tea towels, and rub and toast, but I can never get them that clean.
🙂
Valerie
(And, there is NOTHING like homemade puff pastry. I have not made it yet, but I have had it.)
Well it’s grey and wanting to drizzle here today, but we’re missing those gorgeous leaves you have. You capture it so well. Such love photos as always, and the stuedel does sound amazing. You had me at the cozy socks. : )
Superb strudel, puff pastry making it even more irresistible, and the hazelnut win my heart 🙂
Oh El, I am so envious of your red and orange outdoors.. I looked out today morning and the poor trees outside our apartment are shedding profusely.. and they are still green! Sighh.. no vibrant Fall here…
But on the flip side, I am happy it’s finally cool enough to make puff pastry at home!! I love strudels too and with all the pears I have now.. this one is soon to be made!! :)))
This screams New England and I love it!
Valerie, I buy the hazelnuts in bulk when I’m in Montreal. No skin removal required. They’re that clean right out of the bag. Beautiful, huh?
El, absolutely delicious. Great idea with the puff, too. I have trouble with studel pastry but not puff so I need to try this. Had a recent diaster cooking with pears about a month ago – they remained too firm – but the pears here look amazing I want to try again!!!
How I love fall in New england. This is really beautiful. I love your photos!!
Beautiful post that captures the essence of autumn’s best attributes! I fear that we may have one week or two and most of the trees will be bare here. Is that your daughter? She’s precious!
Your strudel looks wonderful! Now I wish I would have bought pears at the market today. I may have to go back tomorrow 😉
Hi Susan, thanks but no, she’s not mine. Cute though, isn’t she?
I have always adored strudels as well! I love the idea of the toasted hazelnuts and pears. Your photos are so beautiful 🙂
I thoroughly enjoyed perusing several of your posts. Each one made me feel like I was in a foreign film, so romantic and beautiful. You are very gifted.
The pear strudel looks wonderful. My mother was very adventurous in cooking and she and I would make authentic handstretched strudel dough. None of the rest of the family remembers it. We would stretch the dough, two of us at a time over the whole kitchen table using the backs of our hands. I don’t think I would dare try it now, this looks much easier.
I really enjoyed the rustic-ness of the entire post. Such lovely, and what a splendid time of year for strudel.
Do you make your own phyllo?
This strudel looks incredible! I love the combination of pears and hazelnuts.
Gorgeous! I love desserts like this, especially this time of year. Beautiful photos, too! Thanks for bringing a little autumn into my Tokyo apartment 🙂
ooooh El, you really captured fall. Delicious.
Hi El, gorgeous, gorgeous. You can’t believe how long I’ve waited for your next post. And to say it was worth the wait. The strudel looks so, so good and really adds a statement to fall.
What a lovely strudel, El! I’ve been craving something with pear in it.
I’m impressed. I love the way you make us feel like it’s fall in New England wherever we are. Exquisite photos. Yummy too!!! I love strudel and would love to try your recipe!
I love strudel too and this is a fantastic combination! Love the pictures here!
Ah, these photos capture the best of New England and explain just why I want to live there. Gorgeous strudel, a remarkable dessert and yours is beautiful. Pears filling would make my husband flip for this.
Gorgeous! Mouthwatering!
So beautiful…the photos and the food. I seldom bake with pears and then when I do I wonder why I don’t do it more often, this looks so warm and inviting; dying for a bite!
I love your fall photos! I was going to make a savory fall tart soon, but you may have just changed my mind!
Gorgeous strudel and a gorgeous peek at fall. You do have an exquisite way of capturing the world around you.
Mimi
Wow, absolutely beautiful photos. Fall is my favorite time of year and those pictures and that strudel epitomize fall in New England. Gorgeous!
This looks INCREDIBLE! And the pictures are stunning too!
you had me at Strudel. i thank you for providing me with the perfect Thanksgiving Day morning treat. yes, i’m already planning Thanksgiving… call it an obsession.
How lucky you are to have such beautiful fall days in New England! Your photos are incredibly beautiful and I love the idea of warm strudel on a cold autumn day!
Oh my goodness!! Your blog is…I’m lost for words…amazing! Amazing thoughts, photos and recipes! Extraordinary acutally! I am so honoured you stopped by my blog! Thanks for the kind comments!
Oh, gosh, the pictorial is glorious and the strudel looks divine.
Really sensational El. You perfectly captured that New England fall day. Have you had cider doughnuts yet?
ok i will make this w a slice of brie on the side. heavenly. you outdid it on this one. fabulous.
El, such beautiful photos. I can’t wait to try this recipe.
I must. I absolutely must. I am a strudel gal, as well. And, pear? Perfect combination!
Love the clicks, Hazelnuts look gorgeous.
Ooooh El, what stunning fall pictures!! that filled strüdel looks amazing & must taste lovely & apart!!
Excellent food to enjoy with some good friends!
This looks so very gorgeous! Love the photos.
I wish we had Fall colors where we are too, but we’re too far south for them unfortunately. Glad to see that your pear-picking trip was a success (I remember reading a tweet about a failed trip to the orchard…)
The streudel looks amazing. Love the flavours of the filling. Great pictures!