Strudel di
Mele
South Tyrolean shortcrust apple strudel
Apples, raisins and pine nuts fill a golden pastry loaf, sliced warm and finished with a light dusting of powdered sugar.
Shortcrust strudel with apples, raisins & pine nutsApples and cinnamon,
inside a golden shortcrust.
Strudel di mele wraps apples with raisins, pine nuts and a little cinnamon. In South Tyrol, cooks use several kinds of pastry, including stretched dough, puff pastry and pasta frolla, a tender shortcrust. Each gives a different balance of crisp shell and soft fruit.
The dessert belongs to a wider Central European tradition and has a familiar place in Trentino-Alto Adige. This home recipe chooses the South Tyrolean shortcrust version, with toasted breadcrumbs to absorb some apple juice. It is folded into one filled loaf, then cooled briefly so the slices hold together.
Explore by food: Desserts
Let’s make strudel di mele.
One shortcrust loaf, about eight dessert slices. The recipe makes the pastry and fruit filling from scratch.
One loaf about 30 cm long; eight dessert slices.
What you’ll need
Pastry
- 250 gplain flour, plus 20 g for rolling
- 125 gbutter, softened
- 100 gcaster sugar
- 1medium egg
- 1 tbspmilk
- 1 tspbaking powder
- ¼ tspfine salt
- 1 tspfinely grated unwaxed lemon zest
Filling and finish
- 600 gtart apples, weighed after peeling and coring
- 40 gcaster sugar
- 40 graisins
- 20 gpine nuts
- 40 gfine dried breadcrumbs
- 20 gbutter
- 2 tbsprum
- ½ tspground cinnamon
- 1medium egg, beaten, for brushing
- 10 gpowdered sugar, for finishing
The 50-minute rest allowance includes 30 minutes chilling and 20 minutes cooling. This is pasta frolla shortcrust, not the stretched-dough version. Start with peeled, cored apple weight; buy roughly 800 g whole apples. The egg wash may not all be needed.
How to make it
- 01
Make the shortcrust
Mix the 125 g butter, 100 g sugar and lemon zest until evenly combined. Mix in the pastry egg and milk. Add flour, baking powder and salt, then bring together just until smooth; do not knead like bread. Flatten, wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- 02
Toast the crumbs
Melt the 20 g butter in a pan, add the breadcrumbs and stir over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes until lightly golden. Tip into a bowl and cool. Heat a conventional oven to 180°C/350°F and line a baking tray with parchment.
- 03
Prepare the apples
Cut the prepared apples into thin slices. Toss with the 40 g sugar, raisins, pine nuts, rum, cinnamon and cooled buttered crumbs. Mix shortly before shaping so the fruit does not stand in its juices.
- 04
Enclose the filling
Roll the chilled dough on lightly floured parchment to roughly 35 × 30 cm and 3–4 mm thick. Put the filling in a compact lengthwise mound, leaving 3 cm at the short ends. Use the parchment to lift the long sides over the filling, overlapping them; pinch the seam and tuck the ends. Transfer seam-side down to the tray, supporting the loaf carefully.
- 05
Bake until golden
Brush with a thin layer of beaten egg. Make three small steam slits in the top. Bake for 40–45 minutes until golden and the apples are tender when tested through a slit. Loosely cover with foil if the pastry colors before the fruit softens.
- 06
Cool and slice
Cool on the tray for 20 minutes. Dust with the powdered sugar and use a serrated knife to cut into eight slices. Serve warm rather than piping hot so the filling holds together.
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