Festive Chocolate Cherry Strudel Recipes

CHERRY STRUDEL RECIPE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 410F/210C and line a large baking tray with a silicone mat.
• Place cherry pie filling, vanilla, sugar and ground arrowroot/cornstarch into a medium sized bowl and mix until smooth.
• Place one sheet of filo pastry onto your baking sheet, longest edge facing you, then brush lightly with melted butter. Lay the next sheet on top, then brush lightly with butter. Repeat until you have layered all 5 sheets of filo pastry. On your final sheet of pastry, brush lightly with butter again.
• Place cherry pie filling along the longest edge, about 1/2 inch away from the edge, neatly in a line, leaving a 1 inch gap at either end. (You may not need all of the cherry pie filling; I had a couple of tbsp leftover.)
• Take the 1/2 inch gap you left nearest you and gently fold over the cherry pie filling. Then gently continue to roll your strudel up until you get to the end. Hopefully you will end up with the seam side down on the baking tray, if not you will need to flip it. It will be fragile, so be careful! I used a spatula to lift half of it up, then placed a hand under there, then used the spatula again to help hold the other end, then I flipped it, so the seam was on the baking tray.
• Fold your ends underneath the strudel, then lightly brush with your beaten egg.
• Slash across your strudel a few times (just to allow some steam to exit!) and then place in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until golden and crisp and the filling is bubbling.
• Leave to cool for at least 45 minutes before slicing into 8 and serving. I dusted my strudel lightly with icing sugar before cutting.

EASY CHERRY STRUDELS

Steps:

• Drain cherries, reserving 1/3 cup juice. In a large saucepan, combine the cherries, sugar, cranberries and butter. Cook and stir over medium heat until heated through. Combine cornstarch and reserved juice and add to the pan. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir 1-2 minutes longer or until thickened. Remove from the heat; stir in walnuts. , Unfold one pastry sheet and cut in half. Mound half of the cherry mixture on one pastry half to within 1/2 in. of edges. Top with remaining pastry half; pinch edges to seal. Repeat with remaining pastry and filling. , Place on a greased foil-lined baking sheet. With a sharp knife, cut diagonal slits into tops of strudels; brush with egg. Bake at 400° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

CHERRY-CHOCOLATE STRUDEL

Steps:

• In a bowl, gently mix cookie crumbs, fresh cherries, dried cherries, almonds, chocolate chips, sugar, cinnamon, and kirsch.
• Lay 1 filo sheet flat (cover remaining filo with plastic wrap to prevent drying) and brush lightly with butter. Cover with another filo sheet and brush lightly with more butter. Repeat to stack remaining filo.
• Spread cherry-chocolate filling in a 3-inch-wide band along 1 long edge of the dough, 2 inches in from edge and the ends. Fold long edge, then the ends of dough over filling. Gently roll the filled side of dough forward to form a compact cylinder, ending seam side down.
• Gently transfer the strudel roll, seam down, to a buttered 12- by 15-inch baking sheet. Brush top of roll with remaining melted butter.
• Bake on the center rack in a 375° regular or convection oven until golden brown, 15 to 25 minutes. Using 2 wide spatulas, transfer strudel to a platter. Sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar, if desired. Cut into 1 1/2-inch-wide slices and serve warm.

FESTIVE STRUDEL

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C/ 350 degrees F/ Gas 4. Lay out 6 sheets of filo pastry on a clean tea towel, overlapping each by an inch or so, so they cover the tea towel.
• Cook's Note: The filo should cover the tea towel completely, with just a little overhang at one of the shorter ends.
• Work quickly so your pastry doesn't dry out and brush some melted butter all over it. Sprinkle over the cinnamon and 2 ounces/ 50 g of the sugar, then crumble over your ginger nuts to add a nice bit of crunch. Carefully layer the rest of the pastry sheets on top and brush again with butter.
• Use your hands to crumble the Christmas pudding into a bowl then grate in the fruit, cores and all. You want to have about the same amount of grated fruit as you've got pudding. Add about 2 tablespoons of sugar, and mix it all together to break up the pudding a bit more. Sprinkle this all over the pastry so it's roughly covered, leaving the overhang clear. Place the chocolate in a row on top of the Christmas pudding, down the short side nearest the overhang.
• Fold the overhang over the chocolate and pinch it up, then lift up your tea towel, and use it to help you carefully roll up your strudel. Tuck the ends under to seal it and transfer to a large nonstick pan. Brush it all over with butter then sprinkle over a little more sugar. Bake in the hot oven for about 40 minutes until crisp, golden and gorgeous looking. It might split a bit and look slightly rustic, but I think that's quite nice. Cook's Note: You could wrap an extra layer of filo round it before cooking if you want it to look a bit neater.
• Once the strudel is cooked, leave to cool, then use a serrated knife to cut the strudel into
• 2-inch/ 5 cm slices. Dust these with icing sugar and serve with ready-made custard from the refrigerator.

CHEESE AND CHERRY STRUDEL

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
• In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer), blend the cream cheese until soft and smooth. Add the farmer's cheese and continue to blend. Add the egg and mix. Add 1/2 cup of the sugar and the vanilla. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip (or just set aside in a bowl).
• Transfer 1 sheet of phyllo to the prepared pan. Using a pastry brush, brush the phyllo with butter. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/3 of the ground walnuts. Repeat with the 2 remaining sheets of phyllo--reserving the some melted butter and nuts for the top, once rolled.
• Turn the sheet pan so that the phyllo is horizontal to your body. Two inches in from the left-hand edge of the phyllo, working from top to bottom and leaving 2 inches bare at the top and bottom, pipe or spoon a 3/4 inch thick line of cream cheese mixture.
• Alongside the cream cheese, pour the cherry pie filling. Turn the sheet pan a quarter turn and, starting at the edge the fillings are near, roll up the pastry to encase the filling. Keep rolling to form a log. Move the log to the center of the sheet pan and tuck the ends under to keep the filling from oozing out. Brush the surface with melted butter and sprinkle with remaining sugar and nuts.
• Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Let cool 10 to 15 minutes on the pan. Using a serrated knife, cut carefully into sections and serve warm.

SOUR CHERRY STRUDELS

Steps:

• Bring cherries (with any juices), 3/4 cup sugar, and cornstarch to a boil in a 2 1/2- to 3-quart heavy saucepan, stirring occasionally, then simmer 2 minutes. Transfer filling to a bowl and cool completely.
• While cherry filling cools, arrange 3 phyllo sheets in 1 layer on a work surface and let dry 15 minutes. Keeping 12 remaining sheets stacked, halve crosswise, then stack halves. Cover stack with a piece of plastic wrap and a dampened kitchen towel. Finely crumble 3 dried phyllo sheets into a bowl.
• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• Arrange 1 piece of phyllo on work surface with a short side nearest you (keep remaining sheets covered) and brush with some butter. Top with 3 more phyllo pieces, brushing each with butter.
• Sprinkle 2 tablespoons crumbled phyllo over lower third of buttered phyllo, leaving a 2-inch border along bottom and sides, then top with a rounded 1/3 cup filling. Fold bottom edge of phyllo up over filling and fold in sides to enclose filling completely, then roll up phyllo to form a strudel, about 4 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches. Transfer, seam side down, to a buttered baking sheet. Brush top with some butter, then sprinkle lightly with 1/4 teaspoon sugar. Cut 2 (1-inch) vents diagonally across top of strudel, about 1 1/2 inches apart, with a paring knife. Make 5 more strudels in same manner.
• Bake strudels in middle of oven until golden brown and crisp, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool 30 minutes.
• We used IFQ (Individually Quick Frozen) cherries from Friske Orchards (231-599-2604), in Charlevoix, Michigan.

CHOCOLATE CHERRY STRUDEL

Steps:

• Microwave: To prepare filling, combine first liquor, water and sugar in a medium bowl. Microwave at High 1 1/2 minutes or until sugar dissolves, stirring after 45 seconds. Stir in dried cherries and ginger, cover with plastic wrap and microwave an additional 3 minutes on HIGH. Let stand for 5 minutes to allow fruit to absorb the liquid. Spoon fruit mixture into bowl, cover and cool completely.
• Stovetop: In a small saucepan, combine liquor, water and sugar and heat until sugar crystals dissolve. Add dried cherries and ginger to the pan and cook until cherries absorb most of the liquid and plump (approximately 5-10 minutes with low heat). Spoon fruit mixture into bowl, cover and cool completely.
• Preheat oven to 350°F
• To assemble the strudel, 1/4 cup chips into the cherries.
• Place 1 phyllo sheet on work surface, covering remaining dough to keep from drying. Lightly coat with butter-flavored cooking spray. Working with 1 phyllo sheet at a time, repeat this process with the 7 remaining phyllo sheets with cooking spray, placing one on top of the other. Place a sheet of plastic wrap or waxed paper over phyllo, pressing gently to seal sheets together; discard plastic wrap.
• Spoon filling along 1 long edge of phyllo, leaving a 2-inch border. Fold over the short edges of phyllo to cover 2 inches of apricot mixture on each end. Starting at long edge with 2-inch border, roll up jelly-roll fashion. Do not roll tightly, or the strudel may split.
• Place strudel, seam side down, on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Score 7 diagonal slits into top of strudel using a sharp knife. Lightly spray strudel with cooking spray.
• Bake for 30 minutes or until golden.
• Place 1/4 cup chips in a small heavy-duty zip-top plastic bag, and seal. Submerge bag in very hot water until chips melt. Snip a tiny hole in 1 corner of bag; drizzle chocolate over the baked strudel.