Perhaps its no surprise that Asian pears suffer an identity crises. They are often called ‘apple pears’ because of their crisp texture and apple flavor characteristics. Asian pears are a cross between the Ussuri pear and the Japanese Sand pear, having no relation whatsoever to apples.
Some of the Asian pears made their way west with Chinese and Japanese immigrants in the 1850’s. Their shape and taste were modified into fruit like the well known ‘Bartlett’pear. Other pears travelled eastward to Korea and Japan. These ‘Asian’ pears became more like an apple in shape and crisper in texture. Unlike other types of pears, which you want to eat when they have a bit of give to them, ripe Asian pears are firm. Even though they are hard, they still bruise easily, which is why you often see them sporting ‘foam net sweaters’ for protection in the grocery stores.
Since I had a couple of these nice juicy pears on hand as well as some Brie, putting them into strudel seems like a good idea. I’m just going to ‘wing it’ as the saying goes, and combine a few ideas to see what develops. What’s not to love about strudel, right?!
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- 1 large Asian pear, chopped finely
- 1 cup apple juice
- 3 Tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1/2 cup (60 gm) walnuts or pecans, chopped
- 1/3 cup (50 gm) dried cherries or cranberries, snipped
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 tsp apple pie spice
- 125 grams Brie cheese, thinly sliced
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
- 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
- 3 Tbsp white sugar
- 1 tsp EACH cinnamon & ginger
- 1/4 tsp EACH cloves, nutmeg & cardamom
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (113 gm) unsalted butter, melted
- 2 1/3 cups flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 90 grams cream cheese, softened
- 115 grams (2/3 cup less 1 Tbsp) Crisco butter flavored veg shortening
- 1/2 cup milk
Ingredients
Pear Filling
Streusal
Strudel Pastry
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- In a small saucepan, combine pears, apple juice & maple syrup. Bring to boiling; reduce heat & simmer uncovered about 5 minutes or until pears are tender. Drain pears; add nuts, cherries, brown sugar & apple pie spice. Toss gently until mixed; set aside.
- In a bowl, stir together flour, oats, sugars, spices & salt until fully combined. Gently stir in melted butter & crumble ingredients together. Set aside
- In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder & salt. With a pastry blender, cut in cream cheese & shortening until mixture resembles coarse peas. Stir in milk. On a lightly floured work surface, knead dough gently about 20 times. On a sheet of parchment paper, press dough out to a 14"x 14" square & lightly butter pastry.
- On another large sheet of parchment paper, spread streusal topping out evenly. Lay pastry, buttered side down over streusal & press down lightly. Lay thinly sliced BRIE cheese over pastry, then top evenly with pear filling. Roll up pastry from the longest side using parchment to do so.
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Lay filled strudel roll with parchment on a baking sheet. Slice top of strudel part way through at 1" intervals. Remove any excess streusal. Bake about 40 minutes or until golden brown. Remove strudel from baking sheet & place on a wire rack. Sprinkle with excess streusal.