Cheat’s Sour Cherry Strudel with Lemon Cream

My old mates Boof and Charlie made a version of this at a dinner party many moons ago, when they were just teenagers (sigh) and I was in my early twenties, and I’ve loved it since. It’s an excellent one to try if you’re not a gifted baker or in a rush because, really, you just have to brush and layer some ready-made filo with butter, roll very simply, put things in it, and stick it in the oven. The other fab thing about it is that you can change up the fruit or even fill it with something savoury.

FEEDS 8

INGREDIENTS

8 sheets ready-made filo pastry

50 g (1¾ oz) butter, melted

2 pink lady OR granny smith apples, peeled, cored & cut into 1 cm (½ inch) dice

680 g (1 lb 8 oz) jar pitted morello cherries in light syrup, drained

60 g (2¼ oz/½ cup) walnuts, toasted (see first paragraph of Basic Nut Praline method here)

40 g (1½ oz/¼ cup) currants

1 tablespoon Frangelico liqueur OR kirsch

55 g (2 oz/¼ cup) caster (superfine) sugar OR soft brown sugar

3 teaspoons plain (all-purpose) flour

½–1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

TO SERVE

Icing (confectioners’) sugar, to dust

1 quantity Lemon Cream OR Vanilla Sour Cream OR Vanilla Crème Fraîche (for all three, see here)

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) fan-forced.

To make the strudel, lay a sheet of the filo pastry on a large baking tray lined with a sheet of baking paper, and brush with a generous amount of the melted butter. Lay another sheet on top, and repeat. Continue in this way until all the filo has been used. Set aside.

Combine the apples, cherries, walnuts, currants, Frangelico, sugar, flour and cinnamon in a medium mixing bowl, and toss gently with clean hands to mix the ingredients evenly.

Tip the mixture across the centre of the filo sheets, leaving a 7 cm (2¾ inch) border on each side. Fold both sides inwards, then roll into a sausage to enclose the filling. If it’s a bit of a mess, unwrap the pastry, pop all the bits that have fallen out back into the centre and have another go, as the filo is fairly robust.

Carefully shimmy the strudel so that it’s positioned across the centre of the baking tray, then brush the surface with more of the melted butter. Bake for about 30 minutes until a deep golden brown, so all the layers are cooked through. Leave to cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Dust with icing sugar just before serving with your choice of dolloping cream.