#the filling only looks a bit lumpy in the photo. it's been in the fridge for a few hours and seems to have settled

[holoska]

butterscotch cinnamon pie my beloved 🥧💖

#holoska rambles #the filling only looks a bit lumpy in the photo. it's been in the fridge for a few hours and seems to have settled #it's just too dark to take another photo with decent lighting now >:/ #but the crust turned out way better this time! still could be prettier but it's so much easier to look at than last year's ahah #now I just have to hope it sets in time to be able to eat a piece on my birthday. because last time it Did Not #birthday tag

[hetaliashippingrecipes]

AUSTRIA/HUNGARY (Part One): Cherry Apple Strudel (Happy 150th)

Not straight from the

this is a horrible picture but it was midnight by the time I finished this and my dining room lighting is horrible

I’m not overinvested, your FACE is overinvested

Okay! So! Figuring out recipes for them is super tricky because, I mean, what makes it unique to the ship? They share so much food culture already. This and any other recipe one can come up with for both of them could easily belong to either of them individually. But, at least in my mind, I tend to associate apple strudel with Austria, and cherry strudel with Hungary. Both countries make both, but whatever, this is my brain. Hungary is also known for its sour cherries!

Note: I referenced several recipes for this, and I’m not 100% happy with the dough. This is only the second time I made strudel, and it was harder to work with this time around (by some miracle, I nailed the first one - I’m not even really a baker at all, so it was a pleasant surprise). So this recipe may be more of a guideline - if I make this again, and it comes out better, I’ll update. WARNING this is really image heavy.

Ingredients:

FILLING:

6 cups sliced apples (Granny Smith or Golden Delicious - more on this later) 1.5 cups sour cherries (WELL DRAINED if using jarred) 1 cup plain breadcrumbs 6 tbsp butter Lemon juice (half a lemon’s worth is fine, it’s just to keep the apples from browning) 1/4 tsp(?) of cinnamon (I think I used more - taste and check the balance to your liking!) 3/4 cup(?) granulated sugar (more or less, depending on the sweetness of your apples and cherries. Again, taste it to check!)

DOUGH** (again, I fucked up here, but this is what I started with):

2 cups all-purpose flour Pinch of salt 1 egg 100 ml lukewarm water (yes I just changed systems mid-post but most measuring cups have both cups and ml)

OTHER:

Melted butter Confectioner’s sugar A clean bedsheet (I’m serious)

Here’s everything except the eggs, butter and breadcrumbs, plus wine - the recipe in my “Imperial Recipes” cookbook I got in Prague had 2tbsp white wine in the dough. I was skeptical, it was the only recipe I saw that had it, so I ended up skipping it.

A NOTE ABOUT THE APPLES: I knew Granny Smith apples were supposed to be best for strudel because of the tartness (they also don’t disintegrate easily). But since I was using sour cherries, I was worried it would come out too tart. In the end, it was just fine, if not a bit too sweet. If you’re using jarred cherries, which have added sugar, you’ll probably be fine with Granny Smith - and you may want to lower the amount of granulated sugar to 1/2 cup instead of 3/4 cup. If you’re using fresh sour cherries, bless you for having the patience to pit them, and since there’s no added sugar, keep it at 3/4 cup and Golden Delicious is probably fine.

Also:

i care about these things. also it’s what i had in the house

STEP ONE: PREPARE THE FILLING

If you’re using jarred cherries, slice them, leave them in a bowl for a while, then leave them on a plate with a paper towel to dry. Slicing them will both ensure that there are no pits (see the picture!? it might still have pits even if it’s pitted!) and also that the texture is better with the apples. You do NOT want much of the syrup in this; it will create too much moisture and your strudel may burst while baking. (Spoilers: mine did anyway. So be careful. It still came out pretty well.)

Peel and slice your apples like this. For best results, have an inanimate object look judgy over your handiwork

After the cherries are well drained, combine in a bowl with the lemon juice, cinnamon, and sugar, and cover while you prepare your dough. This seems backwards but trust me - even more liquid will come out of this while it sits there. AND IT STILL BURST IN THE END.

STEP TWO: PREPARE BREADCRUMBS

Melt butter in a pan. Throw your breadcrumbs in. Toast until brown. Don’t burn. Set aside to cool.

STEP THREE: DOUGH

Combine flour, egg, and salt, and gradually add the water as you mix. Form it into a ball once it’s done. I didn’t get photos of this because you try holding your phone and doing it.

NOTE: I beat the egg well beforehand because some cute old lady on youtube with an incredible sturdy dough did. No other recipe I saw had it - many used a well, like when making pasta. This method may be better.

Here’s where my dough went weird: I noticed it looked too dry, so I added a tiny bit of water. Then I added a tiny bit of flour because it was too sticky. So I’m pretty sure my proportions were off. I should have been more patient with it - my guess is it would have been okay without anything extra if I just worked the dough more and trusted it. Also, I was approximating from a recipe that used grams, because I don’t have a scale. Bad idea. I’m going to buy a scale.

Knead the dough. You want to knead it a LOT. Science time: kneading activates the gluten which gives dough its elasticity. For something like pancakes, you don’t want to overmix because too much agitation activates the gluten too much and it can make them tough. But this is strudel - you’re going to be stretching the dough out a lot, and it should be paper-thin, and not tear. It’s going to need to be on the tough side. I had a video of myself doing a fun kneading technique but apparently you can’t directly upload and embed here (I’m not doing youtube)? So go to this video, which uses a different dough recipe which you may want to try (and canned whipped cream in the middle?! wtf), but the fun part starts at 5 minutes in:

Also, THAT VIENNESE ACCENT. If you ever wonder what Austria might sound like. I imagine something like this but 20 years younger and more oboe-like in timbre. Anyway.

Spread your clean sheet over the table, and flour it well. Roll out the dough first, then stretch using your fists (phrasing). I also could not get footage of this because I was working alone. Again, refer to the above video. THIS IS THE HARDEST STEP. Be patient, but also work quickly. Gravity is both your friend and your enemy here - you want gravity to do the work, but if you leave it for too long on your hand, it’ll tear the dough. You may end up with a few holes anyway - depending on how big they are, you can either leave them or patch them up. This is going to get several layers upon rolling, so it’ll be naturally patched up, but it’s thinner in those spots so you risk bursting. If you look closely you can see where I patched it up. You also want to cut away the thick edges, because they will make the strudel lumpy and weird. Brush the whole thing with butter. I almost forgot, which you can see in the pictures below.

Also, I did this sideways, because it was late and I remembered wrong. DON’T DO IT SIDEWAYS. Put the filling along the LONG edge, not the short one. I was so tired. However, if you know you have a small baking sheet, this may be better. It’s your call but it’s better to do it the long way...

Whatever, the breadcrumbs HAVE butter in them, right? Nah, don’t forget this step like I did. Butter it, spread the breadcrumbs, then put the filling over it. I used a slotted spoon because it was so damn soppy.

For the next step, which is The Moment Of Truth, also please refer to the above video, because again, YOU NEED TWO HANDS FOR THIS.

Yeah, so this was supposed to be rolled the other way, but what you do is pull the sheet up and flop it over on itself repeatedly, folding in the edges about halfway through like a gigantic egg roll or burrito. You can butter the top of the rolled part on each step, but I’m not sure how necessary it is because the other layer it’s touching is also buttered. I did it, because butter is great.

IF you do this the right way, you can place it on a baking sheet in stages and snake it, or a U shape like in the video. If you do it the wrong way or your baking sheet is small, roll it one more time onto the parchment, but butter the parchment first.

Brush the top with more melted butter. Don’t put One Coin figurines in the oven.

Bake at 375F for about an hour - it may need more.

And now for The Other Moment Of Truth:

So this is what happens when it bursts. But it’s nicely golden brown at least! Top it with sugar while it’s still warm, but let it rest for a half hour before you cut into it.

NOTE: This serves A LOT OF PEOPLE, but strudel freezes incredibly well, if it’s well-wrapped. I had strudel that was several years old and it was still pretty immaculate. I think it survives better months in the freezer than it does for a week in the fridge, because the fridge can make it soggy. Freezing it preserves the crispiness, and you can reheat it in the oven. Please don’t microwave it, you’ll make Oma cry.

Enjoy!!!

#hetalia #aushun #aph austria #aph hungary #cooking #recipe