Cherries have always been one of my favorite fruits. When I was little I used to hang out with my grampa and every day we used to each eat a small jar of cherries! haha This weekend when I saw many of the vendors at the markets with their fresh cherries I knew I needed to get a bunch! I got two different types, but both are sweet cherries (the following recipe calls for sour)
Last week I had found this recipe and I knew I needed to make it as soon as cherries showed their faces at the market. I've never worked with phyllo dough before, so that was a new experience. Surprisingly it was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be and I actually didn't follow her instructions to a T.
She advised to cover the phyllo dough with wet/damp tea towel. But when I did that the first layer of phyllo was extremely difficult and sticky to work with. So I took the towel off and just worked quickly. Because I knew it was going to make the dough sticky, I also did not assemble them on a tea towel, but rather right on my parchment paper and cookie tin. Maybe I did something completely wrong here - but I seemed to make out just fine doing it my own way.
I also did not have walnuts (and actually don't like nuts) so I left them out of the recipe as well.
Here is her RECIPE (taken directly from playin with my food blog)
(you really all should check out her blog, she has amazing recipes and gorgeous photos to boot)
INGREDIENTS
- 1 package frozen phyllo dough, defrosted according to pkg. directions
- 1 stick butter, melted
- 1 cup walnuts, ground
- 1/2 cup sugar, or to taste
- 1 cup plain, dry breadcrumbs
- 3 cups sour cherries, pitted and stemmed
EQUIPMENT
- 2 dampened tea towels, excess water squeezed out
- pastry brush
- baking sheet
- sharp knife
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 400F. Butter a baking pan. Toss the cherries with the sugar in a bowl and set aside for 15 minutes. When you are ready to assemble the strudel, line up the walnuts, bread crumbs, melted butter, and cherries in separate bowls. Carefully unwrap the phyllo dough, leaving it to sit on its wrapper, covered in the dampened tea towel to prevent it from drying out. Lay the other tea towel in front of you. Place 1 leaf of the phyllo dough on the towel. Using the pastry brush, sprinkle, do not brush, a little butter over the dough. Go light. You don't want to cover the entire surface. Sprinkle lightly with the bread crumbs and the walnuts. Repeat with 5-6 layers. Add about 1-1/2 cups cherries to the top layer. Make sure you've squeezed out some of their liquid. You don't want them to be too wet. Using the towel as a guide, roll it up into a log. Brush the entire loaf with melted butter. Using your knife, cut diagonal slices, being careful not to cut all the way through. Bake at 400F for about 15 minutes or until golden. Cool in the pan on a rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, slice, and enjoy!
MAKES 2 STRUDELS
Oh man they are so good, we prefer them when they were chilled , but I didn't complain eating a little piece when they first came out of the oven either! It was such a simple recipe and I'm thinking of all the fruits to do these with. Next up, apples.
Oh and to make you all drool a little bit more today..I also made this Jumbo zucchini bread. It took forever to bake. I used my gramma's recipe that I posted last year. Oh so good! A yummy baking (hot, over 90+ and humid) weekend, what was I thinking having the oven on so much?!
