Pear & Raspberry | Strudel-Lava | Fully Illustrated
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I created this little gem last fall while working as Cafe Chef for Shasta Regional Medical Center in Redding California. Keeping the doctors, staff & visitors entertained with a little charm & a lot of butter. This indulgent pastry is going to become your quintessential for fall baking.
Strudel-Lava would make a lovely hostess gift, wrapped in parchment & tied off with twine & a cinnamon stick, as one should never arrive empty handed.
Strudle-Lava
/Strudel/
a layered pastry containing a sweet filling.
/Baklava/
a rich sweet dessert with layers of filo & chopped nuts held together with honey.
/Strudel-Lava/
an ingenious creation that combines layers of filo with butter, honey & chopped toasted walnuts that envelop layers of harvest fruits.
serves 8
Begin a day ahead as you will need to thaw the filo dough in the refrigerator overnight.
8 sheets of filo dough (Phyllo)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup honey
3/4 cup toasted walnuts
4 seeds from a star anise
3/4 cup Turbinado sugar
zest of 2 large orange (use a microplane zester for this)
1 tbsp. ghee
3 large pears, I used Bosc
1/2 cup pear butter (or apple or plum butter, purchased or homemade)
6 oz. raspberries
1.) Allow filo dough to thaw under refrigeration over night. Remove filo from fridge. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Whip together softened butter & honey, set aside. In a food processor, pulse together toasted walnuts, star anise, sugar & orange zest (reserve 1 Tbsp. to sprinkle over the top of the pastry).
2.) In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt ghee. Saute pears a few minutes then add pear butter, allowing it to melt into pears. Set aside to cool. Preheat oven to 350f.
3.) Lay out 8 pieces of filo dough & cover with a towel (refrigerate or freeze the rest). Place first sheet of filo on parchment lined sheet pan, brush lightly with butter honey mixture using a pastry brush. Place another sheet on top, brush with mixture then crumble 1/3 cup of the nut mixture evenly over the filo. Repeat this layering process two more times ending with the last 2 sheets of filo. Stack cooled pear slices down the center of the pastry lengthwise, dot with raspberries. Carefully fold in ends over filling. Brush edged with butter mixture then fold one length over filling. Then finally fold the other length over pastry, invert placing seam on the bottom. Brush pastry with remaining butter & honey & scatter reserved walnut mixture over the top. Bake until fragrant & golden brown, 30-35 minutes.
4.) Serve warm or at room temperature. Cut into 8 portions. If desired, sprinkle with powdered sugar. Served warm, it would be lovely with a scoop of homemade vanilla bean ice cream.
Chef Notes: This particular strudel oozes a great deal of caramel while baking. After your pastry has finished baking, incorporate this back into the filo by pulling the excess parchment over the pastry & tying it off with a bit of twine until it cools & the caramel sets up. Serve with a cup of afternoon Earl Grey tea or after dinner with an expresso or dessert wine.
