It’s the hottest day of the summer and I’m baking strudel. “What are you, silly or impractical or just not very attentive?” my inner cook’s critic natters at me as I pit cherries. “Not only that, you don’t have enough cherries, do you?”
“No,” my patient cook in charge responds. “That’s why we’re caramelizing the diced apples.”
Strudel is not limited to heat waves. In fact, most people of German or Austrian extraction enjoy their apfel strudel mit schlag in the winter. But in autumn, cherry strudel has its own charm, especially when that cook has put by some sour cherries, or has access to canned sour (tart) cherries, usually found at a middle European or Mediterranean grocery.
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Visits from family and haying
Mid-summer 2025 saw relatives arriving, amidst baler repairs and haying at the Eppich ranch.
Cherries and I are old besties. As much as I love fresh cherries out of hand, I like sour cherries even more. We’re fortunate to have world leaders in hardy plant breeding at the University of Saskatchewan, among them Bob Bors. Bob was an assistant professor, and retired last year, from the U of S plant sciences department, where he taught classes and ran the university’s fruit program, which has gained renown for its hardy haskap, sour cherries and apples. He collaborated with Sara Williams, who authored and co-authored articles and books on Prairie gardening, and has played a major role in the Master Gardener program at the U of S. In 2017 they co-authored an indispensable book on raising and maintaining hardy orchards, Growing Fruit in Northern Gardens.
READ MORE: Fruit growing on Prairie farms
Back in the early 2000s, when the U of S released some of the sour cherries that have since become famous, I acquired six young plants from DNA Gardens in central Alberta. (They’re still in business, FYI, and have evolved from plant tissue culture and propagation to value-added fruit wines and a seasonal farmgate café. I gotta go!)
I planted two cherry twigs in my sunny yard two blocks from the Bow River in Calgary: one a Carmine Jewel, the other a Juliet from the university’s “Romance” series. I gave the others to friends and family. A year later, I started harvesting. Twenty years later, the sour cherry shrubs are madly producing for my friends, family and the current owner of my former home off the Bow River.
This summer, I found sour cherries at the farmers’ market. After I made jam and strudel, I started wondering why I was buying fish instead of the pole. When I called my local greenhouse, I learned that yes, indeed, sour cherry plants are available, and that I have a good window until the end of October to get them into the ground. So first we eat some strudel, then we discuss tending sour cherry shrubs so they thrive in our challenging climate.
Cherry and apple strudel
Strudel is time-consuming but simple, and the results are so much better than what you can buy! Things to remember: precook the filling to eliminate water and add flavour; use hot water when making the dough to quickly develop gluten that allows for easy stretching; and the dough really does need to be stretched thinly enough to see through it to the floral design of your tablecloth!
Serves 12.
Pastry
- 2 c. all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp. kosher salt
- 1 large egg
- 2 Tbsp. sunflower oil + extra for the bowl
- hot water
- 1 c. butter, melted, for brushing
- 1 c. almond flour, graham crumbs or bread crumbs
- icing sugar for dusting
Cherry filling
- 4 c. pitted sweet or sour cherries
- 1 c. fruit juice or liquid from the can if using canned cherries, divided
- sugar to taste
- 2 Tbsp. cornstarch
- 1 lemon, juice and zest
- 1 tsp. almond or vanilla extract
Apple filling
- 3-4 medium tart apples, peeled and cut in ½” dice (about 4 cups)
- sugar to taste
- ½ tsp. cinnamon
- 3 Tbsp. butter
To make dough, combine flour and salt in a bowl. Whisk together egg and oil, then add hot water to measure a total of ¾ cup. Mix with a fork until just holding together, then turn onto a floured counter and knead for three minutes until pliable and supple. Lightly oil bowl, turn dough in oil, cover and rest for one to 24 hours.
To make cherry filling, put cherries in a pot if they are fresh or frozen; drain well if using canned, setting aside cherries and saving the liquid. Add half the juice or liquid to the pot, cook for 15-20 minutes, until tender and thick, then dissolve cornstarch in remaining liquid. (Add canned cherries now if using.) Stir in, boil, and remove from heat. Add lemon juice and zest and extract. Mix well.
To make apple filling, sauté apple dice with sugar, cinnamon and butter in a large sauté pan until caramelized. Cool.
Set oven at 400 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment. To assemble, dust a counter with flour, then roll dough into a large rectangle. Remove the dough, cover counter with a clean tablecloth, and flour lightly. Pick up strudel on the backs of your hands and let its weight stretch it, working around the perimeter. Stretch until thin enough to read a newspaper through, and lay flat on the tablecloth. Patch any tears. Shape into a rectangle. Stretch the edges until they are as thin as the centre.
Brush the entire surface with melted butter. Sprinkle with almond meal, graham crumbs or breadcrumbs. Spoon apple filling down the long side about 2” from the edge. Stack cherry filling on top. Fold the dough edge over top, then use tablecloth to roll strudel into a snug roll, stopping and brushing with melted butter after each roll, including the final one. Tuck in ends.
Transfer strudel to pan, using tablecloth or your hands, curving it to fit pan. Bake for about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and dust with icing sugar. Serve warm.
