This is a different version of the much popular Apple Strudel.
It is a delicious, well balanced encounter of different flavors and textures. The crunchiness of the amaretto cookies and walnuts, indeed balance the soft and moist pear chunks and melted chocolate. The spices flavor, merges beautifully with the scent of the armellina (the bitter almond used to make the amaretti) and also with the chocolate. The latter, it is also the perfect match for the pear.
This is a nice dessert to serve after a Sunday’s lunch.
I hope you will enjoy it too 🙂
Ingredients
For the pastry
- 250 gwhite flour type 0
- 100 mltable water
- 20 mlsunflower oil (cold pressed)
- 5 gtable salt
- 1egg
For the filling
- 3pears (Red or Yellow Williams variety)
- 70 gshelled walnut
- 60 gItalian amaretto cookies
- 50 gdark chocolate chips
- 2 spoonsRum
- 1orange (zest only)
- 1 spoondark muscovado sugar
- 1 teaspoonground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoonground cloves
Preparation
For the pastry
– sift the flour onto a large bowl;
– dilute the salt into the water, then pour it onto the flour;
– mix well with your hands and add the oil too;
– keep on mixing with your hand and add the egg;
– mix everything together with your hands till you start to get a dough;
– transfer the dough onto a flour-dusted working surface and knead well till you get a smooth ball;
– brush the dough with some oil, then transfer it into a bowl;
– cover with some cling film and store it away from air drafts for 1 hour;
For the filling:
– put the walnuts into a large bowl and crush them with your hands;
– add the grated orange zest and the chocolate chips;
– peel the pears, chop them into chunks and add them to the other ingredients;
– add the ground spices and mix everything well;
– add the liquor and mix everything well;
To assemble the strudel
– crush the cookies with your hands to reduce them to dust, then transfer them into a bowl;
– roll out the pastry into a long thin, 2 millimeters thick, rectangle;
– brush its top with some oil;
– spread the ground amaretto cookies all over;
– spread the filling onto the amaretto cookies layer, leaving about 2cm spaces from each edge;
– fold the 4 edges of the pastry on the filling as shown in the picture (this way the strudel will be perfectly sealed, and the filling won’t come out);
– now roll up the strudel till the end;
– make sure that the sealing-end of the roll is under the strudel;
– brush the strudel with oil, then spread the spoon of sugar all over its top;
– bake at 170 degrees for about 35/40 minutes or till golden;
– allow to cool down before serving;
