Smoked Apple and Ricotta Strudel
An hour’s drive north of Toronto, we spend a drizzly Saturday with fellow foodies picking apples and learning about different varieties of this iconic fruit. Inspired by the day, we immediately began recipe testing and even more inspired by our Traegar smoker, we decided to combine apples with smoke, and a little bit of cheese (cheese makes everything better).
Servings: 2 strudels
Ingredients
- 2 cups pastry flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup butter cold and ¼” cubed
- ½ cup ice water
- 250 g ricotta cheese
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 2 medium egg yolks
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 honey crisp apples
- 2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoon butter
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon flour
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar and salt.
- Add cubed butter and mix by hand to ensure all butter is well coated.
- Pour in ice water and mix until just combined.
- Empty bowl onto lightly floured surface. Knead until dough is just formed. Wrap and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl, prepare the cheese filling. Mix together ricotta cheese, white sugar, vanilla, egg yolks and salt. Place in fridge until ready to use.
- Core and peel the apples. Place in your smoker on low heat and smoke for 45 minutes.
- As soon as you remove the apples, preheat a skillet on medium heat. Dice the apples into ½” dice and toss with lemon juice.
- Melt butter in the skillet and mix in brown sugar until combined. Add apples, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Mix until apples are coated and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Stir in flour and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
- Remove the pastry dough from the fridge onto a lightly floured surface.
- Shape the dough into a rectangle and roll out into a 6” x 12” square. Fold the long sides into thirds, turn the dough a ¼ turn and roll again into a similar rectangle. Repeat this process 3 times then wrap the dough in plastic wrap and return to your fridge for an additional 30 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 375°.
- Cut the dough in half and return one of the halves to the fridge.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out into a 12” x 18” rectangle.
- Spread half the cheese mixture in the middle of the first third of the short side of the dough. Then spread half the apple mixture on top of the cheese.
- Carefully roll the third of the dough with the mixture over, and then again, ensuring the seam is on the bottom of the pastry. Tuck the edges underneath the bottom of the strudel. Transfer the strudel to a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Brush the entire strudel with an egg wash, then cut diagonal slits every inch along the top of the pastry. Sprinkle the top of the pastry with sugar.
- Repeat steps 14 through 17 with the second piece of dough.
- Bake for 30 minutes, turn the pan and bake an additional 20 minutes. Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.
- Serve with a sprinkle of icing sugar or your favourite ice cream.