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Sour Cherry Strudel

Sour cherries are one of my favorite fruits, and they are certainly one of the best for making desserts. This strudel recipe is made from my puff pastry dough. Admittedly, strudel dough is a little different, but I find that this one is easier to make and sooo tasty!

Take out your puff pastry and allow it to thaw a little. It doesn't need to reach room temperature, but you should be able to work with it. While that's happening, preheat your oven to 375ºF and prepare your other ingredients.

To make this delicious sour cherry dessert, you'll first want to drain your cherries. Place them in the collander and save the juice for another purpose. Sprinkle the cherries with about 1-2 tablespoons of sugar and leave them to drain for about 30 minutes, pushing out the extra juice with a fork every once in awhile. Also, make sure the sour cherries are pitted! You don't want any nasty surprises.

Meanwhile, in a sauté pan melt your butter and then add the bread crumbs, stirring them around until they are toasted. Remove from the flame, mix in a tablespoon of sugar, and allow to reach room temperature.

Roll out the puff pastry dough into a nice rectangle. If you used my puff pastry dough recipe, you'll need just half. About 3 inches from the edge start scooping in the bread crumb mixture along the long side of the rectangle. Place heaping spoonfuls of the drained and pitted sour cherries right on top of the bread crumbs (the bread crumbs help absorb excess water from the cherries as it cooks). Fold the dough from the edge to cover the cherries, and then fold the whole thing over one more time like a jelly roll. Pinch to seal all along the dough's edge.

Place on a baking pan and do two last things before placing it in the oven. First, brush the top with egg wash (egg mixed with a bit of water or milk). Next, cut some slits along the top. This will allow steam to escape while it cooks. Place it in the oven for 30–40 minutes, or until it's a golden brown color.

Tips

Sour cherries are a typically European variety that are hard to find fresh. Even in their native lands, they're generally only in the market for about 2 weeks! However, once you try it you'll never look at ordinary cherries the same way! Luckily, you can buy sour cherries in a light syrup all year long.

Puff pastry dough will only taste sooo good if you make it at home. However, you can buy it ready-made in the supermarket. If you go this route, try to find one made with butter and not shortening.