#28 Weekend Notes: Strudel Saturday
My mom was in town this weekend to keep me company while Ben was at a bachelor party. We did the standard summer weekend thing: lunch out, farmer’s market, a long walk, and baby wrangling--but also strudel making.
Both my Auntie Rae and grandma were/are long time strudel makers. The original recipe belongs to at least my great grandma Regina, if not someone farther up the family tree. Auntie Rae and my grandma use the same recipe but, much like their personalities, their strudel is quite drastically different.
I’ve had the strudel recipe for a few years now. It’s in the wedding cookbook my sister made for me--a bright teal professionally published book with recipes from family and friends. During babe’s nap times my mom and I took a maiden voyage into strudel making.
The recipe is simultaneously detailed and sparse. It’s obviously a historic, dash-of-this, pinch-of-that, make-it-with-love, use-your-gut kinda thing. And much like Auntie Rae, my grandma, my mom and myself our rendition, following the same recipe, was different again--but good.
At Auntie Rae’s funeral one of her grandsons reminisce about how you knew if she knew that you were doing something well--a strong finger point and stern one word right at you: GOOD. I’m lucky to have gotten a few of those from her. I’d like to think if she tried our strudel we’d get another one.
Here’s the recipe, with added detail where the original recipe lacked, so we can make this again and make it GOOD.
Bube’s Famous Strudel
From Regina, Inspired by Rae and Margie
Ingredients
1 pint (2 cups) butter flavored Crisco
1 pint (2 cups) sour cream
2 sticks butter--cold and cubed
4 cups flour + more for rolling
24oz apricot preserves
About ¾ cup cinnamon and sugar mixture (should be about equal parts cinnamon and sugar to make ¾ cup)
2 cups chopped walnuts
Raisins--4-6 handfuls
Powdered sugar
Directions
It’s best to make the dough the night before--or at least earlier in the day. To make the dough, cream the Crisco in a large bowl. Work in the sour cream and butter with a pastry blender, leaving the butter in small “pebbles”. Add the flour and mix thoroughly with a pastry blender.
Divide the dough into eight balls. Wrap each in waxed paper and place in a plastic bag (we did ziplock for air tight) and refrigerate overnight (or at least for several hours).
Preheat the oven to 450. Grease a cookie sheet (or lined baking sheets with silpat mats).
Working with one dough ball from the fridge at a time, roll the dough onto a floured surface. Roll to a circle about 10-12 in in diameter--lift and turn the dough after each second or third roll to keep the dough from sticking.
Spread the preserves over the dough in a thin layer, then sprinkle cinnamon sugar liberally, walnuts then raisins. If you’re not a raisin fan you can omit--but that wouldn’t be classified as GOOD.
Roll up and score the strudel at 1 to 1 ½ inch intervals (to allow steam to escape, and to give you a guide of where to slice when done).
Place strudel rolls on the cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at 450. Reduce heat to 350 and bake for another 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned. When cool, dust with powdered sugar and slice.
Notes:
If you’re not serving the strudel right away it’s better to keep it whole and not dust with powdered sugar until serving time. You can wrap each “loaf” in plastic wrap and then store in a ziplock bag in the freezer. When you want to serve it, let it come to room temp before dusting with sugar and serving.
Both my Auntie Rae and grandma were/are long time strudel makers. The original recipe belongs to at least my great grandma Regina, if not someone farther up the family tree. Auntie Rae and my grandma use the same recipe but, much like their personalities, their strudel is quite drastically different.
I’ve had the strudel recipe for a few years now. It’s in the wedding cookbook my sister made for me--a bright teal professionally published book with recipes from family and friends. During babe’s nap times my mom and I took a maiden voyage into strudel making.
The recipe is simultaneously detailed and sparse. It’s obviously a historic, dash-of-this, pinch-of-that, make-it-with-love, use-your-gut kinda thing. And much like Auntie Rae, my grandma, my mom and myself our rendition, following the same recipe, was different again--but good.
At Auntie Rae’s funeral one of her grandsons reminisce about how you knew if she knew that you were doing something well--a strong finger point and stern one word right at you: GOOD. I’m lucky to have gotten a few of those from her. I’d like to think if she tried our strudel we’d get another one.
Here’s the recipe, with added detail where the original recipe lacked, so we can make this again and make it GOOD.
Bube’s Famous Strudel
From Regina, Inspired by Rae and Margie
Ingredients
1 pint (2 cups) butter flavored Crisco
1 pint (2 cups) sour cream
2 sticks butter--cold and cubed
4 cups flour + more for rolling
24oz apricot preserves
About ¾ cup cinnamon and sugar mixture (should be about equal parts cinnamon and sugar to make ¾ cup)
2 cups chopped walnuts
Raisins--4-6 handfuls
Powdered sugar
Directions
It’s best to make the dough the night before--or at least earlier in the day. To make the dough, cream the Crisco in a large bowl. Work in the sour cream and butter with a pastry blender, leaving the butter in small “pebbles”. Add the flour and mix thoroughly with a pastry blender.
Divide the dough into eight balls. Wrap each in waxed paper and place in a plastic bag (we did ziplock for air tight) and refrigerate overnight (or at least for several hours).
Preheat the oven to 450. Grease a cookie sheet (or lined baking sheets with silpat mats).
Working with one dough ball from the fridge at a time, roll the dough onto a floured surface. Roll to a circle about 10-12 in in diameter--lift and turn the dough after each second or third roll to keep the dough from sticking.
Spread the preserves over the dough in a thin layer, then sprinkle cinnamon sugar liberally, walnuts then raisins. If you’re not a raisin fan you can omit--but that wouldn’t be classified as GOOD.
Roll up and score the strudel at 1 to 1 ½ inch intervals (to allow steam to escape, and to give you a guide of where to slice when done).
Place strudel rolls on the cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at 450. Reduce heat to 350 and bake for another 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned. When cool, dust with powdered sugar and slice.
Notes:
If you’re not serving the strudel right away it’s better to keep it whole and not dust with powdered sugar until serving time. You can wrap each “loaf” in plastic wrap and then store in a ziplock bag in the freezer. When you want to serve it, let it come to room temp before dusting with sugar and serving.