Perfect Pear Strudel
This Perfect Pear Strudel a special yet simple weekend breakfast, with a sweet vanilla glaze.
“Made this today with a sheet of puff pastry I found in the freezer – adjusted everything down to the two pears I had and plumped the raisins in rum. The fruit smelled so good prepping and the finished strudel was divine.”
—Karin
Is Pear Strudel Breakfast or Dessert?
This is kind of conversation Jeff and I have before falling asleep on Saturday nights:
Lori: “I think I’m going to get up early tomorrow and make a pear strudel. We can eat it for breakfast.”
Jeff: “Strudel? For breakfast? Isn’t that a dessert?”
Lori: “Uhhhh…what about Toaster Strudel? Remember those?”
Jeff: “Well, those had frosting.”
Lori: “So, frosting makes it a breakfast item rather than dessert?”
Jeff: “Yes.”
Lori: “OK, I’ll make you a little bit of frosting…”
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That’s how I found myself making a pear strudel, and a small bowl of glaze for Jeff, on a recent Sunday morning. Because frosting or glaze = breakfast, obviously. If you missed my post on how to work with phyllo dough, you’ll want to check that out first.
After that, it’s just a matter of cooking a simple mixture of D’Anjou pears (also what I use in Thanksgiving fruit salad and Thanksgiving rice) and raisins, spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, and then rolling it all up in a few layers of phyllo. Bake, slice, drizzle with glaze (so you can call it breakfast), and eat.
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Perfect Pear Strudel
Ingredients
For the Pear Strudel:
- ¼ cup raisins
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter divided
- 3 large D'Anjou pears peeled, cored and diced
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 6 sheets phyllo dough
For the Glaze:
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Make Pear Strudel:
- Place raisins in small bowl, cover with very warm tap water. Let stand 5 minutes to plump, then drain.
- Meanwhile, in large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Add pears, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and plumped raisins. Cook 8 to 10 minutes or until pears are very tender and almost all liquid is evaporated, stirring occasionally. Spread mixture on small rimmed baking pan or plate and place in refrigerator 15 minutes to cool (this step can be done up to 2 days in advance).
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter in microwave. Place a stack of 3 phyllo sheets on parchment paper on work surface. Make a second stack of 3 phyllo sheets and place it so it overlaps the first stack by about an inch. Mound the cooled pear filling along one of the long sides of phyllo dough. Roll up like a jelly roll and transfer the parchment with strudel to rimmed baking pan.
- Brush strudel with melted butter. Score the dough into 1-inch portions using a serrated knife, but do not cut completely through the strudel. Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Make Glaze:
- In small bowl, whisk together all ingredients.
- Slice strudel and serve warm with glaze.
This was great with the pears from my tree! I (of course) changed it up a bit by adding craisins instead of raisins, and added a bit of lime and citric acid to the glaze (my husbands choice). Easy, simple, fast and fantastic… this recipe goes into the ‘keeper’ file!
Thanks Teresa! I am so glad you liked this recipe.
What size should the sheets phyllo dough be? I live in anothet country so the way they sell it here could be different…
thanks!
Hi Sharon! I used 9 x 14-inch phyllo dough for this recipe. Thanks for stopping by!
This looks so much better than any toaster strudel I ever had!
Thanks so much, Marjory!
You can make me a breakfast strudel any time . . . And, you’re welcome, for making you add glaze. I think it was the hidden gem that took the dish to a whole new level.