Creamy Cherry Strudel Recipe – An Italian in my Kitchen

This creamy cherry strudel is made with flaky puff pastry, tart cherries and creamy pastry cream! Enjoy a slice of this cherry pastry with a scoop of ice cream for an irresistible fruity dessert or serve at your next brunch!

A simple creamy cherry strudel is easy to make yet so impressive to serve! Puff pastry is stuffed with cherries and Italian pastry cream then baked until golden. 

The best part is that this recipe doubles as the easiest breakfast Danish you’ll ever make but can also be served as an impressive dessert with a scoop of no churn vanilla ice cream. 

Just like my strawberry cream cheese strudel and ricotta blueberry strudel, this puff pastry cherry strudel received rave reviews when I served it to the Italian. 

Why You’ll Love This Easy Cherry Strudel

• Simple and quick: Puff pastry makes this cherry strudel easy to make and it can be ready in under an hour.
• Crowd-pleasing: Fruity desserts always go over well whether served for brunch, dessert or with a cup of coffee. 

Recipe Ingredients

• Puff pastry: When I have time, I use my homemade puff pastry. Frozen store-bought puff pastry that has been thawed but is still cold works great, too!
• Pastry cream: Remember to make this Italian pastry cream at least two hours in advance so it has time to chill. You will only need half the recipe.
• Cherries: Fresh cherries that have been pitted then cut in half. 
• Milk: This will be used to brush the pastry before baking.

Variations

• Sprinkle with almonds: I love this added bit of crunchy texture in my cinnamon apple strudel! 
• Add a glaze: Add a simple icing sugar glaze, cream cheese glaze or almond glaze.
• Use a different fruit: Try a different berry! Strawberry, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries would all work. 
• Creamy filling: Instead of pastry cream, try ricotta cheese or cream cheese. If you use either of those, I would use sweetened cherries. 
• Flavored pastry cream: Variations that would work include lemon pastry cream or for something really decadent try chocolate pastry cream! 
• Sweetened fruit: If you love a sweeter filling in your strudel, use canned cherry pie filling. You could also make your own cherry pie filling by boiling down fresh cherries with sugar and cornstarch. 

How to Make Creamy Cherry Strudel

Nothing like a flaky strudel especially filled with an Italian pastry cream and fresh cherries! For the full recipe instructions scroll to the bottom to the recipe card!

To start, prepare Italian pastry cream and chill in the fridge for at least two hours. Roll out the puff pastry sheets on a parchment lined baking sheet then divide it in half lengthwise. 

Cover one half with pastry cream and top with the pitted halved sweet cherries.

Place the remaining half pastry on top and seal the edges well. Brush the top of the pastry with milk then bake until golden brown. Cool slightly then dust with powdered sugar and serve.

What is a strudel?

A strudel is made with thin pastry dough that is filled with fruit for a simple dessert or you can also use a savory filling like in my sausage, cheese and mushroom strudel. It’s baked until golden and the flaky pastry layers add the best taste to the recipe it’s used in!

More Cherry Recipes

When you are looking for a delicious dessert recipe then I hope you give this Cherry Strudel a try and of course let me know what you think! Enjoy.

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