Best Croatian Sour Cherry Pie Recipes

SOUR CHERRY STRUDEL

Steps:

• Make dough at least one hour in advance. Combine all ingredients and knead well to form smooth, elastic dough. Try kneading it a bit longer, as it needs to be elastic (it will stretch out easier later on). Wrap in cling foil and leave in fridge for at least 1 hour.
• Divide dough into 3 equal parts. Roll each one out on lightly flour surface, as thin as possible. Keep it oiled and keep your hands oiled. Start stretching it, pulling it from the middle towards yourself, with your hands. Continue to go in circles, until you've stretched it as thin as you can. Using your knife, cut out thick edges.
• Prepare the filling: combine sour cherries with vanilla seeds, sugar and cornstarch. Spread the filling evenly on the stretched dough, but leave the edges empty. Roll each strudel and place into baking trays lined with parchment paper. Brush the top with a bit of oil.
• Preheat oven to 356 F (180 C). Bake for around 40 minutes. Let cool slightly and dust with powdered sugar. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream or ice cream.

CROATIAN SOUR CHERRY STRUDEL (ŠTRUDLU S VIšNJAMA)

Steps:

• In a small bowl, mix 1/2 cup lukewarm water, 1/2 teaspoon vinegar and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Place 2 cups all-purpose flour in a large bowl and cut in 1 tablespoon cold butter in as for pie dough. Add water mixture and stir by hand for about 5 minutes or until dough becomes smooth.
• Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes, adding as little extra flour as possible. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest 30 minutes.
• Cover a large table with a clean cotton tablecloth (it will become stained from the fat in the dough, so use an old tablecloth). Sprinkle the cloth generously with flour. Place the dough in the center of the cloth and brush it with melted butter. Roll the dough to a 1/8-inch thickness.
• Begin stretching the dough either over the backs of your hands or palm-side up, whichever works best for you. Work quickly, continually lifting the dough and stretching it by pulling your hands apart until it is almost paper thin and drapes over the sides of the table. See our recipe for making Serbian Cheese Strudel to get the idea. Using kitchen shears, trim off the thicker outer edges of the strudel dough.
• Place rack in the middle of oven and heat to 400 F. Brush the stretched dough liberally with melted butter. Place the cherry filling along one long edge in a 3-inch-wide strip, 2 inches from the edges. Sprinkle ground walnuts over the filling.
• Use the tablecloth to roll the strudel away from you, jellyroll fashion, until it is completely rolled. Brush the top of the strudel with melted butter. Cut into sections that will fit your baking sheets and tuck in ends of strudel.
• Place parchment on baking sheets and transfer strudel sections to them, seam-side down. Bake 10 minutes, reduce heat to 375 F and bake 20 to 25 minutes more or until strudel is crisp and golden.
• Remove from oven, cool slightly and then cut on an angle into slices. Dust with confectioners' sugar. You may also cool completely to make the slicing easier and then rewarm in a microwave. Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve as is or with a dollop of whipped cream or scoop of ice cream.

CROATIAN SOUR CHERRY PIE

Steps:

• Make dough following this schedule: flour, breadcrumbs, and lemon rinds, sugar, baking powder, salt, and vanilla flavored sugar and melted butter.
• Mix everything in a bowl and at the end add egg yolks. Mix some more and add sour cream.
• Mix more until you get nice greasy dough. If it is too greasy you can add some more flour.
• When done, put into refrigerator for 2 hours.
• After 2 hours, put the dough out and work a little to make it soft. Cut away a piece of dough size little more than a softball ball.
• Roll the rest of dough into ½ cm thin sheet. Cover the bottom of 28cm low rim cake pan with butter, and put onto it a dough sheet. Make sure that the rim is also covered with dough from inside.
• First cover the sough surface with semolina (it will soak the juices). Put sour cherry on dough (you can use frozen also). Cover the sour cherries eith sugar and cinnamon.
• Mix egg yolks with sugar until become light yellow. Add heavy cream into and pour over sour cherry.
• The dough you have put aside now grate over the topping. Put the cake into preheated oven on 180°C and bake 45-50 minutes.